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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Robert Schatzman
Repeat robber caught by DNA on dropped hat
| Crime | In Fall of 2013, an armed man robbed two banks. |
| Evidence | While fleeing from the second robbery, the robber dropped a hat, which was taken as evidence. |
| DNA | The Allegheny County crime lab developed DNA mixture data from the hat, finding DNA from four or more individuals. |
| Match | Too complex for the crime lab’s manual interpretation method, the lab could draw no conclusion from the evidence. |
| TrueAllele | On the same DNA data, the computer connected the hat to Robert Schatzman with a match statistic of 3.84 billion. |
| Cybergenetics | On November 2, 2015, Dr. Mark Perlin testified at the Allegheny County trial about the computer’s DNA match statistic. |
| Outcome | On February 4, 2016, Robert Schatzman was convicted of felony robbery. He was sentenced to 1 ½ years in prison. |
Media
- PNC Bank robbed in Bloomfield WTAE Pittsburgh
- Alleged getaway jitney driver arrested after North Side bank robbery WTAE Pittsburgh
- North Side bank robber at large; suspected getaway driver arrested WTAE Pittsburgh