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Jury convicts Hedgesville man of armed robbery

Jurors serving in Morgan County Circuit Court last week handed down guilty verdicts on all four charges in a trial stemming from an armed robbery on River Road last summer.

Deliberations by the jury took less than 30 minutes at the end of a trial lasting a day and a half. The lead investigator was Sgt. Sam Smith of the West Virginia State Police, assisted by Captain Tim Stapleton of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department.

Witness testimony and physical evidence pointed to the defendant, who was seen removing a passenger door from a Pontiac parked at CSX train depot while its owner was at work in August 2022. When confronted, the man pulled a gun on a witness who called 911.

The Morgan County jury found David M. Gerhard, 31, of Hedgesville guilty of grand larceny; use or presentation of a firearm during commission of a felony; wanton endangerment; and felon in possession of a firearm.

He had previously been convicted of a felony drug charge in Virginia in 2017.

Gerhard is incarcerated at Eastern Regional Jail awaiting sentencing on April 6.

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