Harrison police say video from traffic cameras was used to catch a man accused of robbing the Sheetz on Freeport Road in January even though he tried to avoid being identified by removing the license plate of the vehicle he was driving.

Richard Vogan, 40, of Pulaski, Lawrence County, was charged with a felony count of robbery along with counts of simple assault, theft and receiving stolen property.

He was being detained in the Allegheny County Jail after a judge denied bail at his arraignment March 25, court records show. A preliminary hearing for Vogan is scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, before District Judge Carolyn Bengel, according to court records.

Police wrote in a criminal complaint charging Vogan that officers were dispatched to the Sheetz about 4:20 a.m. Jan. 31 for a robbery.

A witness told officers a man dressed in black walked into the store, showed a clerk a gun tucked into his waistband and ordered the clerk to “open the register and give me everything inside,” the complaint said.

Video from traffic cameras near the store showed the suspect arriving and leaving in a grey Kia without a license plate.

But police say the Kia had a distinctive circular sticker in the middle of the rear window that made them suspect it was the vehicle used during the robbery.

Footage from the store’s surveillance cameras showed the Kia was in the convenience store parking lot for a little less than two hours before the driver moved it around the building, then parked near the gas pumps and went inside to commit the robbery, the complaint said.

Police said the video shows the suspect was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a camouflage face covering, black gloves, shoes with socks over them and a pair of black pants with a white Puma logo and a camouflage stripe running down the leg.

Information from license plate readers in the area showed a grey Kia Soul near the intersection of Freeport Road and Alabama Avenue at 1:39 a.m. that was traveling toward Brackenridge, the complaint said.

Police said a still photograph taken from a plate reader showed the vehicle had the same white sticker in the window.

The license plate information captured by the reader was used to identify Vogan as the suspect, the complaint said.

Investigators said they were able to get Vogan’s cellphone number from public records. They then got a warrant for records from the phone’s service provider showing that the device was “in the immediate area” of the Sheetz when it was robbed, the complaint said.

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