Published: January 30, 2009 11:47 pm      

Police charge 3 area men in Nanty Glo holdup

NANTY GLO — Three Cambria County men were arrested in connection with an armed robbery early Friday at the Fueland convenience store and gas station on Shoemaker Street, state police said.

They were identified as Matthew Allen Keller, 24, of the 200 block of Grove Avenue, Johnstown; Sanford Koufax McCord, 19, of the 400 block of Jackson Street, Summerhill; and Brian Gaydos, 20, of Johnstown.

Keller and McCord were apprehended first with the help of Johnstown police, who became suspicious about a vehicle in an alley in the city.

Both were arraigned by District Judge Mary Ann Zanghi of Vinco, who went to the state police barracks in Ebensburg for the arraignment. They are charged with robbery, aggravated assault, theft and related offenses.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Monday for Keller and McCord but is likely to be continued to a later day, Zanghi’s office said.

Gaydos turned himself in at the state police barracks in Ebensburg around 7 p.m.

He was arraigned before District Judge Leonard Grecek of Roxbury.

All three suspects were lodged in the Cambria County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bond each.

During the heist, a female clerk was hit by a gun and tied up by two robbers wearing ski masks, said Trooper Robert Kunsman, a state police spokesman.

The clerk, who received minor injuries, was able to call Cambria 911 shortly before 3 a.m.

At least one robber carried a handgun, Kunsman said. They drove away with an undetermined amount of cash.

Keller and McCord initially denied any involvement in the robbery, police said. But they were unable to explain about “money sleeves” – apparently meaning the wrappers used around bills – that were in plain view on the front floor of the driver’s side of the vehicle, Trooper Matthew Evans said in a sworn affidavit. The money sleeves match the description of those taken in the robbery, he said.

McCord may have been the driver of the get-away car, police said.

He told police that he didn’t do anything but “stayed in the car, and they did what they did,” according to the affidavit.

Keller became emotional during the questioning and told police “that he did what he did for his kids. He related that he hit the victim in the head with the gun because she was stalling, and it was making him nervous,” Evans said in the affidavit.

A photo of Gaydos was not available at press time.