PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: May 1, 2024
Pennsylvania Self-Defense: Teens at scene of deadly shooting charged in robbery plot :: 06/03/2015
READING, Pa. - Three teenagers who were at the scene of a deadly shooting in Berks County have been charged in a plot to rob the man who fired the fatal shot, state police announced Wednesday.
The teens, along with Robert Stoudt, the man who was shot and killed, formed a plot to rob a man at his home in the unit block of Long Lane Road in Earl Township, near Boyertown, late Sunday night, state police said.
"They have alleged they were going to rob Mr. Vernet of drugs and money," said Berks County District Attorney John Adams.
Investigators, based on their interviews with those involved, detailed the following series of events in an affidavit of probable cause:
The homeowner, Andre Vernet, received a text message at 11:45 p.m. from one of the teens, stating that she was having car trouble nearby and asking if she could come over. She and another suspect, Breyah Staude, arrived and were invited inside the home.
Soon after their arrival, Vernet noticed that his water was turned off, went outside to investigate and found that the water valve was purposely turned off.
A short time later, Vernet said he heard a car alarm system going off outside and immediately reached for a shotgun and loaded it with a single 12-guage shell.
As he opened the front door to investigate, Vernet was shocked on his left shoulder with a stun gun by a person wearing dark-colored clothing and a ski mask.
"He feared his life so he shoots the shotgun and the shot ends up being fatal," said Trooper David Beohm, Pennsylvania State Police.
Stoudt was then dragged to a nearby car so that he could be driven to a hospital, but eventually died at the scene.
"We can reasonably conclude the ringleader of this robbery plot was the deceased individual," Adams said.
The three surviving suspects have been charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and related offenses.
Two of them -- a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl -- have been detained at a juvenile facility; the third -- Staude, of Boyertown, was committed to the Berks County Jail on $60,000 bail.
"Those individuals who were initially interviewed, who were involved in this plot, gave statements to police that were not true," Adams said.
Vernet, the homeowner who fired the deadly shot, will not be charged, Adams said.
