A South Greensburg man who police say threatened a convenience store clerk with a claw hammer and then left behind an EBT card bearing his own name has been sentenced to two to four years in state prison. Matthew Shashura, 29, pleaded guilty to robbery, reckless endangerment, simple assault and theft in connection with the December robbery at a Par Mar store on Route 136 in Hempfield Township.
According to TribLIVE.com, Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio accepted the plea agreement, which also calls for two years of probation once Shashura completes his prison term. He was ordered to pay $268 in restitution and was given credit for time served in jail since his arrest on Dec. 17. Prosecutors agreed to let him participate in the state's drug treatment program as part of the deal.
A Clerk, a Hammer and a Register Full of Cash
The robbery unfolded on Dec. 16, when a clerk at the Par Mar store reported that a man armed with a claw hammer jumped onto the counter and demanded money from the register, per the TribLIVE report. Pennsylvania State Police later detailed the same encounter in a criminal complaint, stating that a male with blonde hair wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt came into the store, armed with a claw hammer and demanded money from the cash register, according to the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office.
Police say the employee handed the suspect cash along with $20 at the gas pump. The TribLIVE report puts the total theft at $300 in cash plus $20 in gas from the BP station. The amount taken was $300 in cash plus $20 at the pump.
Declined Cards Led Investigators to a Name
Before the robbery turned violent, the same man had entered the store three times and attempted to make purchases using different forms of card payment, according to the TribLIVE account. The district attorney's office similarly noted that the suspect attempted to make three separate purchases with banking cards, but the payments were declined each time.
Surveillance video showed the man dropped one of the cards inside the store, and state police troopers later found an EBT card on a shelf bearing the name Matthew Shashura. Investigators used that card to identify Shashura as the man seen in the footage, the district attorney's office said. Pennsylvania State Police then arrested him on the robbery charge.
Plea Deal Dropped Additional Counts
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Giancola said additional robbery and receiving-stolen-property counts were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, per the TribLIVE report. Shashura had initially been charged with robbery, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, theft and receiving stolen property, according to the criminal complaint filed by state police.
Defense attorney Johanna Jones said her client wanted to go to treatment, the same report noted. That request lines up with the prosecution's agreement to allow Shashura to participate in the state's drug treatment program alongside his prison sentence and probation.
