Greensburg police seek 2 suspects in strong-arm robbery

Greensburg police are looking for an Allegheny County man and a second unidentified male suspect accused in a strong-arm robbery, according to court papers.

Investigators got an arrest warrant Friday for Jonathan Stewart Kostial, 26, of Moon, who is charged with robbery, strangulation, conspiracy, theft and related offenses.

A Greensburg man reported to police that he was visiting a friend on Monday night at an Alexander Avenue apartment in Greensburg when he asked two men who were there to give him a ride home, according to court papers. The man got into an SUV with the men, who he didn’t know, at about 12:10 a.m. Tuesday and they headed to Autumnbrook Apartments.

The driver pulled onto Brattleboro Drive and the man in the back seat, later identified as Kostial, choked the victim and demanded his pants, according to court papers. Police said the driver pulled the man’s wallet and cell phone out of his pockets and pushed him out of the SUV. The wallet contained his driver’s license, $40 and bank and credit cards.

Police said the Alexander Avenue resident met the two men in drug rehabilitation and didn’t know their last names, but he provided a phone number for one of the suspects. Police determined that number was registered to Kostial, according to court papers.

Investigators are trying to identify the driver, whose first name may be Nick. Police said he is described as a tall, thin white man in his late 30s. He reportedly is balding with dark hair and has a goatee and a sleeve tattoo from his shoulder to his elbow on his right arm. He may be from the Latrobe area and drives a white Dodge Durango.

Anyone with information on Kostial’s whereabouts or the identity of the second suspect is asked to call police at 724-834-3800.