Tarentum sisters, boyfriend stage robbery of Asay's newsstand, police allege

A pair of Tarentum sisters and one of their boyfriends staged the Wednesday afternoon robbery of Asay’s newsstand to get money to pay bills and buy fentanyl, borough police are alleging in charges filed against the trio Friday.

Police said April and Leah Baczynski came up with the idea with Leah’s boyfriend, Connor Whited.

In court paperwork, police said Whited thought it was a good idea because April Baczynski works there and it would be easier to get away with it.

“A couple of days ago the idea was brought up on how to make money. A bunch of thoughts were brought up, and this was the last and most desperate one,” police said Whited wrote in a statement. “The idea was to do a staged robbery and hurt nobody … paying bills and addiction was the fuel.”

Tarentum police charged April Baczynski, 29; Leah Baczynski, 24; and Whited, 26, with theft, criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen property.

Police initially believed April Baczynski, the store’s clerk, had been robbed at knifepoint by a man dressed all in black, wearing gloves and sunglasses with a mask over his face.

A visibly shaken April Baczynski told a Tribune-Review reporter that day: “The only thing I could think was: I have a baby, I don’t want to die. So I did what he told me to do. Then he said, ‘Don’t tell anybody about this’ and walked out.”

The owner, Kevin Bertocki, guessed earlier this week that his store was robbed of about $1,000.

In court filings, police said they got a call from a person saying he saw a man matching the suspect’s description walk into a residence in the 700 block of South Ormond Street in Tarentum, where they learned April Baczynski lives. She told police she lives there with her sister, Leah, and her sister’s boyfriend, Whited.

Footage from various cameras showed the suspect approach Asay’s, enter and walk out. He was seen walking up Corbet Street toward East Seventh Avenue, slowly “jog” across the street and then continue to walk to East Seventh Avenue.

Police said the suspect “showed no urgency at all during his getaway.”

Police said April Baczynski and Whited admitted to staging the robbery when they were brought into the police station for questioning Thursday.

According to a criminal complaint, each of them told police they were having a hard time paying their bills. When the three of them were talking about ideas on how to get “fast money,” robbing Asay’s came up.

Whited told police that later in the day, after the staged robbery, he used some of the money to buy fentanyl. Leah Baczynski told police she is also addicted to fentanyl, the complaint states.

Police said April Baczynski gave officers permission to search her residence. They said Leah Baczynski told police the clothes Whited wore during the robbery were in the garbage and the knife was under the back porch.

Those items were found, but Leah Baczynski said she did not know where the money was.

Whited told police he had hid the money in shoes.

Police said he handed over $55.