Suspect in 11 store robberies is in custody

A federal felon from Perry South is in U.S. custody on charges of robbing numerous gas stations and stores at gunpoint across the region this summer with a woman from Sheraden, who is also charged.

James Williams, who went to federal prison in 2005 for a carjacking and was sent back to prison again in 2016 for violating his probation with a new arrest, waived a detention hearing Thursday and will remain locked up for now.

Also charged is Danea Stokes of Sheraden.

The FBI said the pair conspired to rob 11 stores between June 9 and Aug. 16 in Pittsburgh, Bellevue, West View, Etna and elsewhere. Many of the targets were gas stations, but they also hit a Pizza Hut and a Burger King, the FBI said.

Investigators had been tracking armed robberies that started June 9 at a CoGos on Lincoln Avenue in Bellevue.

After 10 more robberies in July and into August, they got their break. Following the robbery of the Burger King on Brownsville Road on Aug. 16, video surveillance on Saw Mill Run Boulevard captured an image of the getaway car, a Hyundai Sonata, and its license plate. On Aug. 22, the plate was recorded by a license reader near the Fort Pitt Tunnel.

Pittsburgh police pulled the car over on Route 65 near Marshall Avenue.

Inside the car were Williams, Ms. Stokes and another man who has not been charged federally.

Officers recovered two guns in the trunk, according to an FBI

affidavit, which matched descriptions of those used in the robberies. Williams’ prints were also recovered from the magazine of one of the guns, the FBI said.

A search of Ms. Stokes’ and Williams’ residences turned up clothing, bags and other items that the suspects had used in some of the robberies, according to the complaint.

Both were charged under seal on Sept. 4 and the case was unsealed this week after their court appearances. Ms. Stokes remains free on a $10,000 bond.

Williams faces a preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court on Monday.