DNA, ball cap tie suspect to robbery

The attorney for a man accused of robbing a service station/convenience store in Redstone Township in 2007 says his client was out of state when the crime occurred; prosecutors say DNA puts him at the scene.

That was the case Monday before Fayette County Judge John F. Wagner Jr., with defense testimony expected to be heard today.

Vikram Yamba, 28, of Monroeville is charged with aggravated assault, robbery, illegal possession of a firearm, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and theft in connection with the April 18, 2007, crime.

Neither defense attorney David Kaiser nor prosecutor Doug Sepic are disputing the commission of the crime: that two men entered the Citgo station on Route 40 around 5 a.m. April 18, 2007, and that a man wearing a yellow Pittsburgh Pirates ball cap fired two shots from a handgun after demanding money from the clerk, who refused to comply.

Videotape from the store surveillance system was shown in court Monday, showing the two men entering the store, one wearing a green hat, the other a yellow one. Two hats matching the descriptions were found down the road from the business, near the intersection of Route 166 and Simpson Road, along with a striped sweatshirt, a T-shirt and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, clothing items seen on the suspects in the video.

The store clerk, Diane Hatfield, identified the long-sleeved T-shirt as the item the man with the gun and the yellow cap used to cover his face.

Two experts from the state police laboratory in Greensburg testified that DNA samples were taken from the sweatbands on the ball caps. The DNA sample from the green cap has not yielded any matches, but in 2011 the sample from the yellow cap, known as Item 5 in the police inventory, was positively matched to DNA from Yamba, leading to his arrest in the case.

Forensic scientist Julia Brolley testified that only one persons DNA was found on the band from Item 5 and it was matched to a known sample of DNA taken from Yamba.

Kaiser said a robbery occurred, but it wasnt committed by his client.

He was actually in Maryland at the time of the incident. The only connection is the DNA found on a hat a couple hundred yards away, Kaiser said. No one identified him.

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DNA, ball cap tie suspect to robbery