Darby men cleared in gunpoint kidnapping, robbery
Judge says burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt not met on any charges
Two Darby men accused of kidnapping and demanding money from a victim at gunpoint in July were found not guilty on all charges.
Sonny Michelotto, 25, and Francis Weiner, 49, were charged with robbery, conspiracy to robbery and kidnapping, all first-degree felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking. Weiner was additionally charged with unlawful restraint and possessing an instrument of crime.
Common Pleas Court Judge Kevin F. Kelly heard testimony in the case last week at a bench trial, but held off on delivering the verdict until he had reviewed the evidence in the case.
It took the judge less than a minute Tuesday to explain that he had reviewed and re-reviewed all of the salient testimony and video evidence in the case before reaching the conclusion that the commonwealth had not met its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on any of the charges.
Defense attorneys Mark Much, representing Michelotto, and Michael Malloy, representing Weiner, thanked the judge before leading their exonerated clients and about a dozen wellwishers out into the hall after the case was closed.
Alleged ambush
The alleged victim told Assistant District Attorney Annie Yoskoski last week that the two men had confronted him July 10 by blocking him into a cul-desac and demanding he hand over his vehicle in exchange for $800 he owed Weiner for brake repairs done on his car.
When the alleged victim refused, he claimed Weiner retrieved a firearm from his truck, somehow got the locked passenger door of the alleged victim’s car open, then brandished the firearm while directing him to a bank to withdraw money.
Michelotto followed in the truck, then accompanied the alleged victim into the Citizen’s Bank at 1991 S. Sproul Road. The alleged victim said he was able to get a teller alone and relay that he was being robbed, at which point the police were called and the defendants arrested.
Marple Township detective Andrew Ronsvalle narrated video footage that showed Michelotto going into the bank with the alleged victim, as well as a Ring doorbell video with no audio that showed the truck lying in wait in the cul-desac — where the alleged victim said he was directed to go by a friend of Weiner’s daughter — then blocking the road.
That video showed the two defendants exit the truck and approach the alleged victim’s vehicle, then speak with him through his open driver’s side door before Weiner went back to the truck. Weiner returned to the car, got into the passenger side and the vehicles exited the area.
Weiner and Michelotto did not testify, though Kelly heard from several character witnesses who attested to their reputations in the community as law abiding.
‘Flat out lies’
Malloy argued at close that the alleged victim had told nothing but “flat out lies” about the entire affair and that there was not a single fact he had been consistent on.
The alleged victim had previously said that he paid Weiner $250 for the repair work, but later acknowledged he may have given his daughter only about $100 to pass along, Malloy said. He also claimed not to know the cost of the repair work, though the figure of $800 was sent to him in text messages before he blocked communications from Weiner and his family.
Malloy said the alleged victim had stood up Weiner for the car repairs and that when the two men caught up with him, he promised to go to the bank and get them money. Weiner accompanied the alleged victim in his car because he did not trust the other man to make good — and, in fact, the alleged victim did not have an account at the Citizen’s Bank, Malloy noted.
Malloy additionally pointed out Weiner did have his legally permitted handgun on him in a holster, but there was no evidence he ever brandished it. He noted the defendants also knew police were inbound at the bank, but waited for them to arrive and gave their side of the story.
Much likewise said the alleged victim had been dodging Weiner and others about the repair bill for six weeks. While the alleged victim claimed Michelotto told him the defendants had taken a spare key to his vehicle when they replaced the brakes, Much noted it had a tag on it like the ones repair shops use when police recovered it from the truck because, he reasoned, the alleged victim had given it to them at the time the repairs were done.
Much added that if the defendants wanted the alleged victim’s car, they could have simply removed him from it in the cul-de-sac and driven away. But he said they did not do that because they just wanted the owed pay for the work performed, so they accompanied him to the bank when he told them he would get them that money.
Yoskoski said in her close that most of the testimony the alleged victim provided was consistent: That the defendants had lured him to an area where they were lying in wait; that they demanded money; that Weiner had a gun on him; and that they accompanied him to the bank.
But as Kelly pointed out in court last week, the alleged victim said nothing in the initial police report about Weiner ever pointing the gun at anyone.
Kelly did seem to agree with Yoskoski at trial that the Ring video showed the defendants were lying in wait for the alleged victim at the cul-de-sac and blocked him in — which the prosecutor argued was unlawful restraint as part of the vigilante manner with which they tried to collect on the repair bill — but that charge was ultimately dismissed with the others.