Pa. woman faces rape and robbery charges

June 13, 2008|By DON AINES

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The hearing for a Franklin County, Pa., woman charged with sexually assaulting another woman during a home invasion robbery was continued Tuesday in Franklin County Central Court.

Charges against Lori Ann Miller, 29, of 11755 Village Heights Drive, Waynesboro, include rape, robbery, criminal conspiracy, burglary, kidnapping, theft and unlawful restraint, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The charges stem from an incident April 8-9 that began at her home and ended at a home on Buckingham Drive near Chambersburg, police said.

Miller's preliminary hearing was rescheduled for June 24, Assistant District Attorney Angela Krom said.

Police were called to the Buckingham Drive home at 3:40 a.m., where a woman there said black men armed with handguns and wearing masks entered the house, along with a white female, police said.

The woman told police her boyfriend, Michael Pearson, left the house at about 8:30 p.m. and she went to sleep. She was awakened by one of the men and taken to the garage, police said.

In the living room, she saw a guest, Lennie Hines of New York, tied up, along with Pearson, who was bound and bleeding on the floor.

The woman told police there was an undressed female in the garage and she was forced to have sex with her at gunpoint. The three men and the female stole a television, cash, drugs and the woman's Dodge Durango, police said.

Pearson was taken to Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center, police said.

The woman told police she believed Pearson knew the female. Police interviewed Miller, who told them she had been kidnapped by the three men as she was going to college classes in Gettysburg, Pa., according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Police interviewed Pearson on April 16 and he told them he met Miller in December 2007 and called her April 8. She asked him to come to her house, but when he entered a man put a gun to his head, the affidavit stated.

Pearson was pistol-whipped, beaten and robbed of $300 in cash. They drove to Pearson's home in his car and another vehicle, police said.

Police checked with the community college Miller was attending. She had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the robbery took place on a Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Miller also accepted telephone calls from Franklin County Jail inmates on that Tuesday, police said. Those calls were recorded, police said.

On May 2, the Carlisle (Pa.) Police Department received a tip from the girlfriend of one of the men involved. She told police he had talked about what was stolen and the sex between the women.

Krom said the man and another suspect were in custody in another jurisdiction and have not been charged in the robbery.

The affidavit said the two men made a business of robbing drug dealers and had received a call from a third man, known only as "Jimmie" or "James," who knew Miller and believed a large amount of cash or drugs could be found in Pearson's home.

|

|

|