The girlfriend of a Derry Township man testified Wednesday that he admitted to her that he robbed the Derry Rod and Gun Club on Nov. 25.
Amanda L. Harris of Seger, who said she has been in a relationship with Todd Eric Paldino, 27, since several months prior to the late-night robbery, testified that Paldino phoned her at 1:30 a.m. Nov. 26 and asked her to provide an alibi for him.
Paldino is charged with the robbery in which a 70-year-old bartender was forced to the floor of the club on Second Street in Derry Borough after a struggle with a masked man armed with a shotgun.
During yesterday's preliminary hearing before Derry Township District Justice Mark Bilik, Harris also testified that later the same morning that Paldino called, she picked him up across from the Sheetz convenience store on Route 22 in New Alexandria. According to Harris, Paldino told her that he wanted to go to Pittsburgh to get crack cocaine.
Harris said that when she asked him for money for gas, Paldino produced a wad of bills.
"I kept asking him questions," Harris said. "I wanted to know what was going on, if I was going to be his alibi."
She said that at first Paldino wouldn't tell her, but later, while the two were on their way back from Pittsburgh, he told her about the robbery.
"He said he had robbed the rod and gun (club)," Harris said. "He said he might as well tell me because it was going to be in the papers and on the news tomorrow."
When Leo Ciaramitaro, Westmoreland County assistant district attorney, asked Harris if she had questioned Paldino about anyone else who may have been involved in the robbery, Harris said Paldino told her that it was the other person who had a gun.
Although Paldino faces a conspiracy charge in connection with the robbery, he remains the only person charged.
Under questioning by Brian Aston, Paldino's attorney, Harris said that she and Paldino made two trips to and from Pittsburgh during the two days after she picked him up in New Alexandria.
She said that during those two days they stayed together at two hotels and that Paldino had given her cash to pay for the rooms.
She said that both hotels were in Monroeville, but that she couldn't recall their names or describe where they were.
Aston said after the hearing that he thought what he called Harris' "blank memory" did not help the case against his client.
"It's a very thin case," Aston said. "She can't remember any of the facts except the one statement. I'll take my chances with that."
During the hearing, bartender Lawrence Walters testified that Paldino, who had been a member of the club since June, was the last person to leave the club the night of the robbery.
Walters said that at about 11:15 p.m. Paldino told him he was leaving and walked out the doors to the vestibule leading to the club's front door.
Walters said that about three minutes later he returned from carrying trash bags out the back door of the club to find the masked man with the gun by the club safe, which had been left unlocked.
Thinking at first that a friend was playing a practical joke on him, Walters said he grabbed for the shotgun and struggled with the masked man before being forced to the floor. The man told Walters that if he stayed on the floor no one would get hurt. Walters said he was unable to identify the man's voice as Paldino's.
While being pressed to the floor, Walters said he heard the sound of a small cash box dropping on the floor. He told police he could hear another person in the club with the masked man and that they were going through bins and removing cash envelopes.
Club steward David A. Lukon testified that more than $5,000 was discovered missing from the cash box, safe, cash register and other places throughout the club after the robbery.
Bilik ruled that enough evidence was presented to support robbery and other charges stemming from the holdup and ordered Paldino bound over for trial.
Paldino faces a court arraignment at 8:30 a.m. March 1 before Judge William J. Ober on charges of robbery, recklessly endangering another person, conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and simple assault.
He remains in Westmoreland County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bond.
