Couple arrested in mugging of man, 70

FORT SMITH — A man and woman suspected of beating and robbing a man last week have been arrested in Pennsylvania, according to police.

A news release Thursday from the Fort Smith Police Department said Dale Virgil Roberts, 29, and Nicole Taylor Standige, 30, were picked up by authorities in Bloomsburg, Pa., and were awaiting extradition to Arkansas.

Police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Grubbs said in an email Friday that the two were apprehended getting off a commercial bus in Bloomsburg.

“We had alerted authorities there to be on the watch for them due to the female suspect having family there,”

Grubbs said in the email.

Roberts and Standige, whose last known address was Sallisaw, Okla., were charged in warrants earlier this week with aggravated robbery, second-degree battery and felony theft.

According to the news release, Roberts and Standige helped John Thomas, 70, carry his groceries into his home at 2003 S. Greenwood Ave. between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on April 11. The man knew Standige through his son and said he felt comfortable allowing the two into his home.

Once inside, Standige made coffee for Thomas, even though he said he didn’t want any, a police report said. He drank a cup and soon began to feel weak and dizzy, and suspected he had been drugged.

Roberts and Standige attacked him, hitting him in the back of the head numerous times with a blunt object and

knocking him unconscious, the report said. Thomas suffered large cuts on the back of his head, bruising on his back and arms, and fractures of his forearms.

While Roberts beat the man, the news release said, Standige tied his hands behind his back with an electrical cord. The two took cash, a debit card, Thomas’ cellphone and other items from his home and drove off in his white 2010 Kia Soul, according to police.

Police had not located any of the stolen property, including the car, as of Friday, Grubbs wrote in the news release.

Thomas freed himself from his bindings and walked out to the street where a passer-by aided him and called the police.