Penn Township man arrested in apparent robbery attempt that failed

A Penn Township man was stabbed and arrested after an apparent robbery plot in Jeannette on Sunday failed, according to court papers.

Kelby K. Saddler, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, theft, driving on a suspended license and related offenses.

Jeannette police investigating a suspicious person report at 12:30 a.m. in the area of South Eighth Street found a man and woman who said they were hiding from a group that had tried to rob them, according to court papers.

Police said Saddler picked the pair up and drove them to Jeannette to purchase heroin. Saddler parked on South Seventh Street and he walked with the pair into an alley where they encountered a knife-wielding masked man. The pair told investigators that the masked man demanded money from only them and not Saddler, according to court papers.

During a scuffle among the group, the woman pulled out a knife and stabbed the masked man in the shoulder and Saddler in the thigh, police said. She and the man she was with were able to get away.

A few hours later, Saddler returned to his truck on South Seventh Street. Police said he had a bloodied towel in the truck and a wound on his left thigh. He was wearing the same clothing seen in surveillance video police obtained of the incident, according to court papers. Police seized a glass smoking pipe from him.

Saddler was being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $50,000 bail. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A Dec. 17 preliminary hearing is set.

No one else has been charged in the apparent plot.

Saddler has served a couple probation stints in the past for minor drug-related and drunken-driving offenses, according to online court records.