'I see the same eyes,' jitney driver who was robbed tells court during hearing in Brackenridge

A jitney driver couldn’t definitively say whether a man who appeared in a Brackenridge courtroom Wednesday was the same man who robbed and threatened to shoot her last month.

“I see the same eyes that I seen that night,” the woman said in court Wednesday. “I can’t tell you a face, but I can see the exact same eyes that I begged for my life to.”

The woman was driving a jitney on Jan. 26 when, police allege, Vern Alexander Connor Jr., 36, of Tarentum, threatened to shoot her and robbed her. She told District Judge Carolyn Bengel that she begged for her life and told her assailant she would do whatever he wanted.

The victim said a man named Aaron West contacted her through Facebook for a jitney ride to Tarentum. She picked him up in New Kensington, and they drove to Tarentum, where they picked up a third person, later identified by police as Connor. She then drove back and forth between Tarentum and New Kensington.

The victim said the incident happened when she and her assailant were on Conroy Way in Tarentum.

According to a criminal complaint, Connor is accused of pulling out a gun and putting it to the victim’s head. Police say he fired a round into the left rear car door, put the gun back to the woman’s head, and said, “Your going to die tonight,” according to the complaint. He also took the woman’s keys, phone and wallet, the complaint stated.

The victim was able to escape when she asked if she could use the bathroom. When her assailant gave her permission, she got out of the SUV and ran.

Connor’s attorney, Anne Marie Mancuso, asked the victim if she could point out the alleged robber in the court room.

“I can’t tell you because I refuse to look (at him),” the victim said.

The victim said Connor had different hair in court than in the photo she was shown, but the suspect had been wearing glasses and a hood at the time of the robbery.

Tarentum police officer Jeremy Howell told the court the victim had previously pointed to a photo of Connor and said he was the man who had robbed her.

“I can promise the person in the photo was the person who robbed me,” the woman said in her testimony Wednesday.

Howell testified that police found a gun in a courtyard next to Connor’s apartment building. The gun, which had been reported stolen out of Wilkinsburg, was wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt.

Police also found a shell casing on the rear passenger seat of the victim’s SUV, Howell testified.

Connor is charged with aggravated assault, robbery, illegal possession of firearm, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, theft, and receiving stolen property.

Bengel held all charges for court, which Mancuso said was disappointing. Mancuso said the victim was unable to identify Connor in court, and there were numerous instances in which she felt the victim was dishonest in her testimony. She intends to ask the court to dismiss the charges.

Madasyn Czebiniak is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Madasyn at 724-226-4702, mczebiniak@tribweb.com or via Twitter @maddyczebstrib.