Two teens to stand trial in Canonsburg armed home invasion
From left, Robert Austin Jr. and Malik Brown
Robert Austin Jr.
Malik Brown
Nathaniel Sele
A Canonsburg woman testified Wednesday that she was “scared out of her mind” when three people wearing masks broke into her home last month and held a gun to her head.
Malik Brown, 17, of 29 E. Pitt St., Canonsburg, was ordered held for court following a preliminary hearing Wednesday before District Judge James Ellis on numerous charges including robbery, burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment. A second teen, Robert Austin Jr., 18, whose last known address was on Findlay Street in Canton Township, waived his preliminary hearing. Police also have an outstanding arrest warrant for Nathaniel Sele, 20, of 101 Valley View Terrace, Canonsburg.
Dawn Brock testified she was in her second-floor bedroom of her home at 250 N. Central Ave in the early morning hours of Sept. 16.
“I heard a thump and then two more thumps,” Brock testified Wednesday, of the sound as her front door was kicked in at 2:44 a.m. “I looked at the camera monitor in my bedroom and saw three men standing over my sister. I saw a gun pointed at her so I called 911.”
Brock explained she has surveillance cameras in her home and a monitor showing views from four cameras in her bedroom.
Two of the intruders enter Brock’s bedroom and demanded to know where she kept the safe. One of them held a gun to Brock’s head. A third intruder brought her sister, Jodi Smith, up to Brock’s bedroom a few minutes later.
“I told them, I didn’t have a safe. I haven’t had one for eight to 12 months,” Brock said. “When they asked for money, I pointed to my purse. They also opened up the drawers on my night stand.”
Brock said she told them she did not have a cellphone, but they saw that she had it hidden under her leg while she was on the line with 911. She told Detective Michael Ledger, who filed the charges, that she believed that one of the intruders was Brown.
“I thought almost 100 percent when I heard his voice that it was him,” she testified, adding that he had been a friend of her son and had been at her home in the past. “He used to call me ‘Ma Dukes.'”
Brock said that five other people in the house, including her son, slept through the incident.
Ledger testified that a pill bottle with Smith’s name on it that had been in Brock’s purse was found on Austin when he was taken into custody by a Chartiers Township police in Valley View Terrace about 400 yards from Brock’s home. Brock’s cellphone was found in weeds between two houses in the 300 block of North Central.
Austin, who initially gave police a false name, was taken into custody on a juvenile probation warrant. He was arraigned two days later on the charges. Ledger said Austin gave a statement that was recorded on audio indicating his involvement as well as the involvement of Brown and Sele. Austin reportedly told Ledger that it was Sele who pulled out the gun and kicked in the door and it was Brown who grabbed Smith. Austin told the detective that he was the lookout. Austin also told police that when they ran from the house, he did not know where the other two went.
All three are charged with seven counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment, and one count each of burglary, criminal trespass, conspiracy, firearm violation, receiving stolen property and robbery. An additional charge of person not to possess a firearm was added Wednesday against Brown.
Brown and Austin remain in Washington County Jail on $50,000 bond. Police ask that anyone with information on Sele’s whereabouts call 911.