New Kensington, PA -- Westmoreland County Detectives and New Kensington Police charged a New Kensington man following a 2024 robbery at a local AT&T store. 

Trey Bell, who has been incarcerated since December of 2024, is facing charges of robbery, theft, unlawful restraint, possessing instruments of crime, and receiving stolen property after allegedly robbing an AT&T store with a firearm and forcing store employees to restrain themselves with zip ties. 

In May of 2024, New Kensington Police responded to the AT&T store on Tarentum Bridge Road for an armed robbery. 

Police spoke with two store employees who stated a man forced entry into the back of the store, showed a revolver, and forced the employees to secure their hands together with zip-ties. 

The suspect stole multiple cell phones and smart watches from the store's inventory and allegedly told the employees to wait 20 minutes before calling police before he fled the store. 

AT&T reported that approximately $47,000 in electronics was taken from the store during the robbery. 

Police identified the suspect's vehicle by using traffic cameras and further reviewed License Plate Readers to obtain a registration of the vehicle. 

Investigators determined the vehicle was leased to a home health care agency in Penn Hills and was eventually recovered within days of the robbery. 

Upon executing a search warrant of the recovered vehicle, DNA samples were obtained from inside the vehicle and sent for forensic testing. 

Police observed various cameras in and around New Kensington on the day of the crime and were able to track the suspect's vehicle before and after the robbery. 

Through DNA testing and information from surrounding police agencies, Trey Bell was identified as the suspect in various armed robberies of phone stores in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. 

Bell was arrested in Columbiana, Ohio in December of 2024 after allegedly committing an armed robbery at a phone store. Authorities were able to trace the electronics to a motel where Bell and another Pennsylvania man were arrested. 

Bell is also facing charges for a December 2024 armed robbery of a T-Mobile store in Crafton, Allegheny County. 

Disclaimer: To the extent that pending criminal matters are discussed, all such charges are merely accusations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

*Picture provided by: Allegheny County Police Department*