Speers escapee captured after chase
SPEERS – A Charleroi Regional police officer pried a semiautomatic handgun from the hand of a Speers man who was captured in the Mon Valley Sunday, two days after he slipped away from officers at his arraignment in a separate case in Bentleyville, court records allege.
District Judge Larry Hopkins on Tuesday arraigned Christopher M. Carroll, 30, on a string of charges filed by Charleroi Regional after he was tackled by an officer during a foot chase into woods about 1 p.m.
Hopkins sent Carroll, of 109 Crest St., to Washington County jail on $225,000 bond in three separate cases, including one that accuses him of stealing $30,000, ammunition, a shotgun and at least two other handguns May 10 from his father’s home at 525 Lincoln Ave., Charleroi, court records indicate. Police said the shotgun was later exchanged for $265 at a Belle Vernon pawn shop.
A court official said escape and related charges were being prepared against Carroll over allegations he escaped Friday from Charleroi police when he was taken to the office of District Judge Curtis Thompson to be arraigned on a charge of conspiracy to rob a pizza shop in North Charleroi.
In that case, Carroll is accused of driving Dean Allen Franks, 43, of Donora, to Double M’s Pizza in North Charleroi, where Franks is accused of robbing a clerk with a BB gun about 8:45 p.m. June 27, court records indicate. Franks was jailed on $30,000 bond hours later after, police said, an officer found him following the robbery across the street pretending to be sleeping on a bed in a personal care home.
Charleroi Regional police Friday apprehended Carroll on arrest warrants at Fairway Inn in Rostraver Township and policesaid he later escaped while officers were switching handcuffs at Thompson’s office in Bentleyville.
Carroll also is accused of illegally possessing as stolen hydrocodone tables when he was tackled Sunday by Charleroi Regional police Officer John Mitaly, who suffered a cut to his left hand during the foot chase that began outside 110 Philips St., court records show.
Carroll is facing charges in Washington County of theft, conspiracy to commit robbery, flight to avoid apprehension, aggravated assault, drug possession and possessing a firearm without a license.
Rostraver police also filed additional charges Tuesday of robbery, receiving stolen property and driving with a suspended or revoked license against Carroll, court records show.