Cops: Rostraver restaurant owner alleges assault by live-in boyfriend

The live-in boyfriend of 84 Lumber founder Joe Hardy’s ex-wife was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting the woman inside her Rostraver restaurant, police said.

Braxton M. Stedman, 36, was charged by township police with making terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment by township police following an altercation that began at Sweeney’s Pub and Cafe on Route 201. Stedman’s girlfriend, Debra Hardy, owns the restaurant.

Hardy was seated on a stool at the cash register in the restaurant’s bar area about 12:30 a.m. Thursday when Stedman walked in and demanded she leave with him, according to court records filed with District Judge Charles Christner.

When Hardy refused, police allege Stedman pulled her and the chair she was sitting on to the floor, grabbed her wrists and dragged her toward the exit.

Hardy allegedly got up and tried to push her way back to the bar, but was grabbed by Stedman, who police said pulled her to his car, according to court documents. Police reported there were witnesses inside the restaurant.

Hardy told Rostraver Officer Richard Beranek that Stedman drove her to her home nearby, where he allegedly struck her and threatened “he was going to beat her within 9 inches of her life.”

Beranek said, when Hardy was interviewed after calling police, she told investigators she was still in pain from the altercation, and red marks were visible on her chest and neck.

In 2009, a former husband of Debra Hardy, Paul K. Ucman, was sentenced to serve at least 364 days in jail by Judge Richard E. McCormick Jr. after he was convicted of stealing $5 million of her jewelry during a contentious divorce that also including assault allegations. McCormick found Ucman guilty of taking a one-of-a-kind Louis Vuitton handbag filled with a $355,000 engagement ring, diamond necklaces and about 500 other expensive pieces on Sept. 28, 2007.

The jewels were stolen from a bedroom vault in the Rostraver mansion Joe Hardy built for Debra when they were married.

Stedman was released on $10,000 unsecured bond and a preliminary hearing is scheduled March 2 before Christner.

Stedman could not be reached for comment and an attorney was not listed in court documents.