Konias frittered cash on sex, drugs
Ken Konias Jr. told the FBI he spent tens of thousands of dollars from a fatal armored-car heist on hookers to keep him company in Florida and nearly $800,000 on a cabbie who showed him around and gave him a false ID.
He also kept an eye on the task force of police who chased him for 55 days before a tip led to his capture on April 24 in a seedy Pompano Beach boarding house.
"He didn't like being portrayed as a killer," FBI Special Agent Gerard Starkey testified on Friday during a preliminary hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. "He had checked the status of the case (in media reports) on cell phones."
Investigators relayed Konias' account of the Feb. 28 killing, the theft of $2.3 million and his weeks on the lam to District Judge Mary Murray, who ordered the former armored-car driver from Dravosburg to stand trial on charges of homicide, robbery and theft. Konias, 22, is in the Allegheny County Jail.
Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli said authorities recovered all but $500,000 of the money taken from a Garda Cash Logistics truck after the killing of guard Michael Haines, 31, of East McKeesport.
Wearing a burgundy jail top, pants and black-rimmed glasses, Konias stared forward for most of the hearing and said nothing as Starkey and a Pittsburgh police detective testified.
Konias' parents, Renee and Ken Konias Sr., attended the hearing but did not speak to reporters.
"There's always two sides to every story. I, for the first time, got to hear what Mr. Konias told the FBI," said Konias' attorney, Charles LoPresti. " I can't dispute anything the FBI said, not having the benefit of reading any reports."
Haines' parents, Ann and Larry Haines, did not attend the hearing. Christina French, who is acting as their spokeswoman, said the couple had no comment.
Starkey said Konias told him he drove to Miami shortly after the heist but couldn't find lodging so he ended up at a hotel in Boca Raton, where he met a cab driver who drove him around town. Konias eventually paid him $700,000 to $800,000 for fake IDs, a house to stay and arrangements to get to Haiti. Authorities would not identify the cabbie, whom they did not arrest.
Konias paid a pimp $10,000 to rent another house in Pompano Beach and to have the pimp bring him prostitutes, he said.
During the weeks Konias stayed in Pompano Beach, one prostitute stole $92,000 from him, Starkey testified.
"The pimp would arrange for women to be intimate with him. The pimp set him up in the house where he was captured," Starkey testified.
Konias' housemates in Pompano Beach said that he kept cash stored in a black duffel bag in the home and in a storage facility nearby. They said he spent lavishly on alcohol and drugs.
Tranquilli would not identify the pimp who got Konias the room, but Shewona Flowers, who lived in the house with Konias, said her brother, John Flowers, arranged the stay.
Asked if her brother is a pimp, Flowers laughed. "He says he's not a pimp. But I've been hearing that, too," she said.
Police have not returned to the house since the days after they captured Konias, Flowers said.
Starkey said Konias led him to the storage facility and provided the key and access code to a unit where agents found more than $1 million stashed. Agents recovered from the Pompano Beach house the duty weapons that Konias and Haines used while working at Garda, Starkey testified.
Starkey said Konias told him he killed Haines in self-defense when Haines threw a hand-held money scanner at him, triggering a fight. Konias was driving, and Haines was riding in the midsection of the truck.
"He said he stopped the truck abruptly, and some words were exchanged and Haines came at him," Starkey said Konias told him. "This was outside the Home Depot near Ross Park Mall."
Starkey said Konias told him that Haines grabbed him and they went to the floor. Haines pointed his gun at Konias, who kicked it away and shot Haines "in the back or head," Starkey said.
"He made it sound as if it was quite a struggle in the truck," Starkey said.
Pittsburgh Detective J.R. Smith testified that the evidence inside the Garda van -- nothing was overturned or disturbed and the handheld scanner was still attached to the wall -- did not back up Konias' story of a struggle.
LoPresti later countered that, saying, "Quite frankly, a lot of different things could have happened post-death to clean that area up."
After Konias shot Haines, he drove the truck to the Strip District near the Garda facility, he told police. He loaded the money into his Ford Explorer, went to the gravesite of his grandmother, "said prayers and cried" and left $50,000, Starkey said.
From there, he went to his parents' home to take a shower and change out of his uniform. Konias packed some things and left $100,000 to $200,000 for his parents but ran into his father before he left. Starkey didn't say if the two men talked.
Konias stopped at a gas station and stole a license plate from a Chevy Impala to put on the Explorer. He drove to a friend's house, left $10,000 in work boots and set out for Florida -- only stopping for gas, Starkey said Konias told him.
