Testimony Continues In Armored Vehicle Heist Trial
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Testimony continued Thursday in the murder trial of a former armored truck guard accused of killing his co-worker and stealing millions of dollars.
Emily Pollino, who rented a room in the Pompano Beach, Fla. home where Kenneth Konias was arrested, testified that he paid her $2,000 per night for her "escort" services, which included sex.
That arrangement lasted about a week. She estimates she was paid about $10,000 altogether by Konias.
She testified Konias told her that he robbed a casino in Pennsylvania because his family needed the money and claimed his partner shot somebody.
She then Googled the case and saw his picture on a wanted poster. She said she did not call police because she did not want to stop the flow of money or drugs she enjoyed coming from him.
Also, Judge David Cashman saw surveillance video of Konias and victim Michael Haines picking up cash from the Rivers Casino, and video from the Home Depot parking lot in Ross Township where the murder is alleged to have occurred.
Casino employees testified that the usual practice was for money to be collected and stored in the back of the truck, but the surveillance video shows that Konias put some of the money toward the front of the truck in a side door. It was something the employees said they thought was unusual, but not unusual enough to be alarmed.
Prosecutors think the placement of the money is significant because they say Konias made the change to help him transfer money to his own vehicle later.
As testimony continued Thursday, friends of Konias, who were called by him presumably shortly after Haines was killed, say they never heard him sound the way he did on the phone that day.
Patrick McGinley, 26, testified he got a call at 1:05 p.m., and Konias asked, "What if I told you you never had to work again?"
Konias then said, "Come with me. I've got all this money."
Then, Konias asked him whether he knew anything about the extradition laws in Canada and Mexico.
Mark Majorsky, 24, testified he found $10,000 in his work boots, put there by Konias unbeknownst to him. He testified that earlier in the day Konias, sounding depressed, asked Majorsky to guess what was wrong.
When Majorsky eventually asked if he killed somebody, he testified that Konias made a noise confirming that he did, then said, "My life is over."
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