Murrysville Adult Bookstore Robbery An Inside Job
MURRYSVILLE (KDKA) - Police in Murrysville have arrested two people in connection with the robbery of an adult bookstore earlier this month.
According to police, the incident happened at the Murrysville Video and News Adult-Mart on William Penn Highway around 3:20 a.m. on July 18.
"Right off the jump, the time lines we were given really didn't match up," said Chief Thomas Seefeld, of the Murrysville Police Department.
Dana Marie Tielsch, 35, was in tears. Her boyfriend, 21-year-old Kurtis Edward Helbing, was a clerk at the store for a few months. Both are from Turtle Creek and both are now charged with the robbery and staging the crime.
"She was the one who said she saw two masked robbers running from the store to a dark-colored pickup truck," said Chief Seefeld.
Police say it was all made up. They found Helbing handcuffed to an equipment rack, more than $2,000 in cash stolen and more than $18,000 in merchandise missing.
The loss to the store totaled more than $24,000.
Police believe that Helbing tried to destroy the store's video camera surveillance system.
"Which shows Mr. Helbing trying on a pair of handcuffs the night before the robbery," Chief Seefeld said.
Helbing can also be seen rehearsing the robbery.
"He tries to act in that video as though he's a victim, and his acting is very poor," he added.
Investigators say that Helbing and Tielsch confessed to the robbery.
"In an interview he said that he owed people, owed some bills," Chief Seefeld said.
After their arraignment, Helbing and Tielsch be taken to the Westmoreland County Jail.
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