Jury convicts city man of drug-selling offenses

Robinson says he and his fiancee each got $37K in pandemic aid

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County jury has convicted an Altoona man of drug-selling offenses, despite his insistence that the drugs found at his residence in October were for personal use only.

Robert W. Robinson, 46, who testified in his own defense and admitted to using 15 to 20 packets of heroin a day at the time of his Oct. 6 arrest, displayed no reaction in court when the jury's verdicts were announced early Tuesday night after four hours of deliberations.

Assistant District Attorney Derek Elensky asked the jury in his closing argument to evaluate the evidence collectively and conclude that Robinson was selling in addition to using.

"Sometimes, a case can be as straight-forward as it appears," Elensky told the jurors.

The jury convicted Robinson of three felony offenses: criminal conspiracy, possession with intent to deliver heroin/fentanyl and possession with intent to deliver cocaine; and three misdemeanors: possession of heroin and fentanyl, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

"It was a hard decision to make and we didn't take it lightly," a female juror from Hollidaysburg said outside the courthouse. "We discussed each and every one of the counts."

A few minutes before turning in the verdict slip with the guilty verdicts, the jury sent a question to Judge Wade A. Kagarise, asking if it could name a new foreperson. The judge said yes and within minutes, an envelope with the verdicts was carried into court.

The female juror said the need for a new foreperson was a reflection of the emotions that developed and not any kind of disagreement.

"As hard as it was to reach our verdicts, we were all in agreement at the end," the juror said.

In the courtroom after the verdicts were announced, defense attorney Kristen Anastasi asked for the jury to be polled. All 12 jurors said they agreed with the guilty verdicts.

After the jury was dismissed, Anastasi asked the judge to set aside the drug-selling offenses, contending that the prosecution's case lacked sufficient evidence. Kagarise denied the request but told Anastasi that she could present it again when filing post-sentence motions.

The charges against Robinson developed from an Oct. 6 search of his residence on the 500 block of Sixth Avenue, Altoona, after state parole agents stopped for a home check and became suspicious. The search produced 62 packets of heroin/fentanyl, 41 small plastic capsules with cocaine, $3,838 in cash and drug paraphernalia that included unused packets and a scale.

While Robinson was on the stand, he told the jury that he and his fiance, Bridget A. Bark, were using a combined 50 packets of heroin a day at the time of their arrest.

Bark, who faces the same charges filed against Robinson, was in court briefly on Tuesday but declined to testify after invoking her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. Her charges are pending.

Elensky challenged Robinson's claim of being only a user by pointing to the cash found during the search of his residence -- at a time when Robinson hadn't worked for 2.5 years.

In countering that challenge, Robinson revealed that he collected $19,600 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in 2020 and $17,520 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in 2021. He said Bark received the same amount.

But if the couple is using 50 packets of heroin a day at a cost of $300, their unemployment assistance isn't covering that cost, Elensky said.

Elensky also presented the jury with photos taken of drug packets and packaging materials seized during the search of Robinson/Bark's residence.

"Why would they have new unused materials when they're just users?" Elensky said.

Robinson said that's the way Bark's seller packaged drugs sold to Bark.

"I wasn't packaging," Robinson said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.