A Pa. representative, his chief of staff, and an intern from Slippery Rock University were robbed at gunpoint early March 12 near the Capitol Building in Harrisburg.
Representative Jaret Gibbons, who represents parts of Butler, Beaver and Mercer counties, said that at about 12:30 a.m. he arrived in Harrisburg with his chief of staff Kevin Bowser and SRU intern Charles Goodell.
Gibbons said they parked at his apartment located “about a half a block away from the Capitol Building.” The group was busy unpacking the car when two men dressed in all black approached them.
“They came up behind [Bowser], put a gun up to his head and told us to get on the ground,” Gibbons said. “They said, ‘clear out your pockets,’ so we took everything out of our pockets, and put it all on the ground.”
“The man who wasn’t holding the gun picked up the [Goodell’s] keys, got into the car and pulled it out onto the road,” continued Gibbons. “The man with the gun picked up the rest of our stuff, got in the car, and they drove off.”
After the car left, the group went into the apartment, and Gibbons called the police.
After giving the police the description and license plate number of Goodell’s car, the police arrived in about five minutes, Gibbons said. The men were arrested within the same hour.
Gibbons, Bowser and Goodell then went to the police station and identified both the men and the gun they had used.
“It certainly was a frightening experience,” Gibbons stated. “When someone holds a gun at you or someone close to you, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Goodell declined to comment on the incident.
The police incident report identified the two men as Michael Chavis, 23, and Donnie Dozier, 41.
Both men were charged with robbery, conspiracy, and robbery of a motor vehicle. In addition, Chavis was charged with carrying a firearm without a license.
“While it was a scary situation, it had a positive outcome,” Gibbons concluded. “Thankfully nobody got hurt, most of our positions were recovered and the two men were caught.”
