Aug 22, 2018 2 min read

MONESSEN – An elderly man described by relatives as a sort of modern-day Robin Hood has been arrested in Monessen over accusations he stored a large amount of shoplifted items in his residence, then doled them out to others.

Police arrested the suspect, Charles Edward Smith, 79, after a relative led officers last week to where the items, ranging from over-the-counter medications to toilet paper, were stored in bins that also had been stolen, police stated in court records.

Smith’s son, Charles, and his fiancée, Alice Horrell, on Aug. 16 led police to 26 storage containers and “explained that Smith has stolen these items and collected them over years,” giving away some of the items to others, the affidavit states.

Many of the items appeared to have been stolen from a Dollar General store in Monessen, police stated. The barcodes on the products that were given to the store showed the items were still in stock, the record indicates.

Police were first alerted to the stolen items Aug. 13 when officers were called to the elder Smith’s residence at 1613 Walnut St. to investigate a report that he had assaulted Horrell.

Smith was charged by city police in that case with simple assault and harassment, court records show. Police accuse Smith of pushing Horrell into a television and stand a day earlier, causing her to lose her front teeth and injure her lip.

He was sent two days later to Westmoreland County jail on a state parole violation involving a theft case in Greene County, where he was sentenced to 42 months in prison in July 2012, online court records show.

In the most-recent Monessen case, Smith is charged with 26 counts of prohibited use of containers and two counts of receiving stolen property.