Woman charged in pharmacy robberies
A Monongahela Township woman accused of helping a man in one of at least seven pharmacy robberies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia last month will stand trial on conspiracy charges.
Alicia Dawn Ashton, 26, of 2186 S. Eighty-Eight Road, waived charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit theft at her scheduled preliminary hearing Tuesday morning before District Judge Jennifer Jeffries.
Trooper Stefani Lucas, a spokeswoman for state police in Uniontown, said Ashton drove a getaway car for Joshua Cain Abel when he allegedly robbed Nickman’s Pharmacy in Hopwood Jan. 25.
“He was the one who went into the store, but she was driving the vehicle,” Lucas said. “She admitted she knew what was going on.”
Abel, 29, of Everson, is facing charges in at least seven robberies in January – including two at Gabler’s Drug store in Carmichaels – was arrested Feb. 3 by West Virginia State Police near Morgantown.
State police filed charges Feb. 5 against Ashton for allegedly conspiring in the Hopwood robbery. Lucas said Ashton is not believed to have helped with any of the other robberies. Lucas did not know Ashton’s relation to Abel. Jeffries also reduced Ashton’s $75,000 bond to an unsecured amount. Ashton was released from Fayette County jail and is awaiting her formal arraignment scheduled for March 17.