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State police use DNA to track down man accused of robbing Washington County convenience store

SOUTH STRABANE, Pa. — 22 year old Darnell Brown is facing 2 felony robbery charges, along with misdemeanors of receiving stolen property, theft and making terroristic threats after South Strabane police used DNA to match him to surveillance video taken from the BP gas station on Murtland Avenue in 2017.

The criminal complaint said Brown was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask when he walked into the store, went up to a clerk stocking a cooler, grabbed her arm and pointed a gun at her head. Video then shows the clerk handing over around 270 dollars from the cash register before the robber runs out the door.

Court records show police found the mask and sweatshirt the suspect was wearing outside a nearby hotel.

Saliva samples were taken from Brown, uploaded to a DNA index database and matched samples taken from items found outside the hotel.

Kayla Courvell

Kayla Courvell

I was born and raised in a small town just north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and decided as a child I was going to be a news reporter.