A State College man is facing felony and misdemeanor charges after he allegedly threatened to shoot and robbed an acquaintance.
The acquaintance told borough police that a man he knew as “Rob” — later identified as 27-year-old Robert E. Mack — approached him at about 9 p.m. Friday on O’Bryan Lane and told him to empty his pockets or Mack would shoot him, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Mack allegedly told the man he was “lucky I didn’t put you in the trunk” of his black Ford Mustang.
Mack allegedly showed the man a gun he had inside his hoodie pocket. He took the man’s phone and smashed it on the ground, and took several other items from him including a credit card, vape pen, prescription and the charger for the electric bike the man was riding at the time, police wrote.
An officer went to the scene of the alleged robbery and found pieces of the smashed cell phone, according to the affidavit. Surveillance video footage from the nearby Weis Market showed a man arriving in a black vehicle and then walking toward O’Bryan Lane. The man went out of view of the camera, then returned and was seen smashing what appeared to be a cell phone on the ground before going back to his car and leaving, police wrote.
A detective determined Mack, who had a black Mustang registered to his name, was a possible suspect. The alleged victim then picked Mack out of a photo array, saying he was “very certain” it was the person who robbed him, according to the affidavit.
The man told police he “used to buy weed” from Mack and believed Mack was “scoping him out,” according to the affidavit.
Mack is charged with felony counts of robbery and prohibited possession of a firearm and misdemeanor counts of simple assault, theft and receiving stolen property.
He was arraigned on Sunday by District Judge Don Hahn, who set bail at 4% of $65,000.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 26.
