Hearing set in home invasion case

Kar’Ron Jamal Smith of Coatesville allegedly participated in armed home invasion robbery

A preliminary hearing is set in the case of a man accused of participating in an armed home invasion robbery.

UWCHLAN » A preliminary hearing is scheduled for later this month in the case of a man accused by authorities of participating in one of a number of armed home invasion robberies in the Chester Springs area, according to court records.

Township police said in a criminal complaint that the defendant, Kar’Ron Jamal Smith of Coatesville, was identified in part through DNA discovered on the tip of a finger of a latex glove that the victims said they found at the scene.

Smith, 22, is currently being held in Chester County Prison on $200,000 cash bail. He was arrested in August, but the hearing to determine if he should be held for trial in Common Pleas Court has been delayed several times by continuances he asked for.

Uwchlan Police Chief Scott Alexander said Friday that police continue to investigate the case and are searching for another suspect in the robbery on Byers Road that occurred in November 2016. The case may be linked to at least two other reported robberies in homes in Uwchlan and Upper Uwchlan that bear similarities to the one Smith has been linked to.

“It’s a huge issue here,” said Alexander, who became chief in January. He said that although he could not discuss the details police had uncovered during their investigation of the crimes, “We obviously believe that Mr. Smith is not the only person involved here, and we want to bring those responsible to justice.”

Smith was arrested by Tredyffrin police in January on a drug possession charge. According to a criminal complaint filed in the Uwchlan robbery case, while he was being booked he offered to give information on a robbery that had occurred in Upper Uwchlan, in which a homeowner and his family were accosted by two men with a handgun. That robbery took place in October, about one week prior to the Uwchlan case.

Smith later recanted his offer to assist, according to the complaint by Uwchlan Sgt. Steven Benson.

Following is a summary of the complaint against Smith:

On Nov. 2, 2016, at about 1:20 a.m., police were called to a home on Byers Road for the report of a home invasion involving handguns. According to one of the residents, two men had come into the home, woken all the residents — a husband and wife, and

their daughter and nephew — and pistol whipped the girl, who did not immediately comply with their demands. The victims were bound with zip ties, and the men demanded money, ransacking the master bedroom where the couple had been sleeping.

At one point, one of the men put the muzzle of the

handgun he was holding at the head of the male homeowner. He also pointed the gun at the two children and asked “which one” the man liked better — the implication being that he would shoot one if he did not give the men money.

The man was then taken to a basement office, where he gave one man $1,500. The men also took $150 from the girl before fleeing on foot. The men told the family that if they tried to flee, they would shot by others waiting

outside.

The victims, after waiting about 45 minutes, eventually were able to free themselves. They found that the doors to the master bedroom, where the family was held, had been tied shut from the outside. The girl, who was bleeding from her head from being struck by the pistol, crawled out a window and then back into the house. They then called police.

The Daily Local News is withholding the names of the victims because one of the suspects is still at large.

The girl was taken to Paoli Hospital for treatment of her injury, and the others were

interviewed at the Uwchlan Township Police Station. When they went home, they found that their cars had also been ransacked. While cleaning up the bedroom, they said, they found the tip of a black surgical glove they found and turned it over to police

An analysis of the glove tip by the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Lab was able to isolate DNA found there, which was then submitted to the FBI. Benson said in his complaint that the DNA matched that of Smith, who had been arrested in 2014 for an armed robbery at a Taco Bell in Exton.

Benson then got a court

order for Smith’s DNA to be taken from him while he was awaiting trial on the drug possession charges in June. That sample matched the DNA taken from the glove tip. He was arrested on Aug. 11 and charged with burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, theft, criminal trespass and related charges.

In October, a family on Elmhusrt Drive in Upper Uwchlan was similarly held at gunpoint by two masked men. The robbers got away with a reported $10,000 in cash.

On Jan. 5, residents of a home just off of Peck Road reported that two men had entered their home through

an unsecured front door and confronted them. They immediately demanded cash and other valuables. The residents said each was armed with a handgun and one also armed with a stun gun device. The suspects were able to leave with an undetermined amount of cash from one of the residents and then fled the home and area on foot.

Smith is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Lori Donatelli on Dec. 12.