14 July 2023- A Chambersburg man who allegedly beat up and robbed a woman last month is caught by CPD after he was spotted illegally walking down the middle of a roadway. Aron C Byrd-Smith is charged with felony robbery, misdemeanor theft, and misdemeanor assault in the initial case. Byrd-Smith is also looking at charges of misdemeanor flight to avoid apprehension, misdemeanor evading arrest, misdemeanor false identification, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanor drug paraphernalia, and summary mandatory use of an available sidewalk. The robbery charge has a bail of $75,000, with the evading arrest case resulting in a bail of $10,000.
Pennsylvania State Police were interviewing a victim at a home on W King Street, Hamilton Township in Franklin County for another police matter on June 11th when she told police that she was beat up and robbed by Aron Byrd-Smith earlier that day. During the interview, the victim allegedly told police that she was sleeping over at a friend’s house on Heintzelman Avenue when she was awoken to Byrd-Smith punching her multiple times in the face. He allegedly hit her so badly that she began bleeding from the head, with Byrd-Smith then taking $580 in cash before leaving. Troopers were able to view pictures of the victim immediately after the assault.
Flash forward to around 1:40am on July 13th when officers with Pennsylvania State Police were on patrol on Garber Street near High Street in Chambersburg. Troopers allegedly observed a man walking in the middle of the road and Troopers told him he had to use the sidewalks. After telling him this and the man allegedly ignoring it, police identified the man as Aron Byrd-Smith. The officers allegedly tried to hail Byrd-Smith, with him ignoring their calls until he began to actively run away from them. Police were able to catch up and subsequently tase him, bringing the chase to an end.
After taken into custody, Byrd-Smith was allegedly found to have a glass pipe with drug residue in a backpack along with another drug pipe in his back pocket. During evaluation by EMTs, Byrd-Smith allegedly identified himself as “Unique Smith, “Aron Byrd-Smith’s twin brother”. Byrd-Smith eventually gave his correct name to hospital staff, where he was evaluated after being tased. When he was eventually transported to a holding cell, Byrd-Smith was reportedly found to have a pill capsule containing “scramble” that he was holding in his right hand.
Aron Byrd-Smith is behind bars on a combined bail of $85,000. His preliminary hearing is set for July 25th.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39201-CR-0000204-2023, Incident No.: PA 2023-780510, Docket Number: MJ-39303-CR-0000086-2023, Incident No.: PA2023925521
