Man charged with robbery at Harrison BP station
A homeless man is charged with robbery, accused of attacking a clerk Saturday at a Harrison BP station.
William Menhart, 54, is being held in Allegheny County Jail and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 30.
According to the criminal complaint, Menhart entered the BP station on Freeport Road about 6 p.m. and pulled a large kitchen knife with flowers on the blade out of his left sleeve. He pointed it at the clerk working in the store and demanded money, police said.
The clerk told police she feared for her life and did what he asked, removing money from the cash register to give it to him.
She said she pushed the store’s panic button to alert police to the robbery and tried to stall the man by asking whether he wanted snacks to take with him, the complaint said.
Video surveillance from inside the store showed the robber, who had facial hair, wearing a red Timberland hooded sweatshirt with jeans and bright blue shoes. Using still images taken from the video, a Harrison police officer identified the man as Menhart, and the clerk was shown a photographic lineup. She identified Menhart as the person who robbed her, police said.
Officers were found a friend of Menhart’s at her residence and saw the knife used in the robbery in plain view, the complaint said.
Menhart was arrested Sunday, according to court documents.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.