3 charged after string of robberies, police chase, subsequent crash

Three people were charged Friday after a string of armed robberies ended in a police chase and crash in Monroeville Thursday evening.

Dontae Dutrieuille, 16, of Turtle Creek; Deon Dutrieuille, 20, of Turtle Creek; and Robert Webb, 23, of Homestead, were each charged with two felony counts of robbery, two counts of theft and a count of criminal conspiracy.

The crime spree began just after 4 p.m., when the owner of a Happy Mini-Mart in North Versailles told police he saw several males in a Mercedes pull into his parking lot. The men put on ski masks, but never left the vehicle and eventually drove away, according to a criminal complaint.

Less than an hour later, an armed robbery was reported at the Crossroads Sunoco Service Center on Homestead Duquesne Road in West Mifflin. Surveillance video showed two men who entered the store. One pointed a black revolver at two store clerks while the other grabbed cash from behind the store’s front counter, police said.

About 40 minutes after that, another robbery occurred at the DS Food Mart on Union Avenue in McKeesport, according to the complaint. Two men, who wore the same clothes as those in the previous robbery, repeated a similar process but grabbed two bags of chips on their way out, the complaint said. They hopped in a car and sped away.

Police were able to track the vehicle using traffic cameras. Authorities said they chased a silver Mercedes on Route 48 until the driver crashed into a utility pole near Cambridge Square Apartments in Monroeville at about 6 p.m., the criminal complaint said. The suspects tried to run but were captured.

About 40 Duquesne Light customers were left without power due to the crash, company spokesman Matthew McDonald said. Service was “quickly” restored, officials said. No one was injured.

Police said they found several loose bills inside the car and on the ground, as well as two ski masks and two bags of potato chips in the back seat of the car. It was not clear if police recovered any weapons.

A preliminary hearing for Dontae Dutrieuille is set for Feb. 7. A hearing for Mr. Webb and Deon Dutrieuille is Feb. 10.