Pittsburgh police: Man arrested for Jimmy John’s robbery is innocent

Pittsburgh police said Thursday they arrested a Braddock man and charged him with a robbery that he didn’t commit.

All charges will be dropped against Aaron Massengill, 40, whom police suspected was responsible for robbing the Jimmy John’s sandwich shop in the 3400 block of Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood shortly after 6:15 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18.

Police said in a news release Thursday night that Massengill had identified himself as the suspect who robbed the restaurant.

A University of Pittsburgh Police officer saw Massengill on Wednesday “and believed he resembled the suspect,” Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said in a statement.

The officer questioned the man and allegedly found drug paraphernalia on him, Cruz said. The officer brought Massengill to police headquarters for questioning.

According to police, Massengill told officers that it was him in the surveillance footage and said he could identify himself in photographs from the Oct. 18 incident that were shown to him.

“He also confirmed that he had been inside the Jimmy John’s that day and provided other details about the crime that were only known to detectives,” Cruz said.

After consulting with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, police charged Massengill with robbery and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked into Allegheny County Jail on Wednesday.

“Police continued to investigate and determined that although the man self-identified himself as the suspect in the photos, he is not the suspect in the photo and did not rob the restaurant,” Cruz said.

Attempts to reach Massengill on Thursday night were unsuccessful.

Cruz did not provide details on how detectives learned that Massengill was not their suspect.

Pittsburgh police immediately alerted the DA upon learning Massengill was not the man who committed the crime, Cruz said.

Detectives continue to search for the man who did rob the restaurant.

Police said the suspect told workers he had a weapon and demanded cash.

He took an unknown amount of money from the register and ran away. No one was injured.

Police initially described the suspect as a black man in his 50s standing 5 feet 7 inches tall with a slender build and a salt-and-pepper colored beard, wearing a thick flannel jacket, dark pants and a beanie cap.

Officials asked anyone with information to call police at 412-324-7800.