CLEARFIELD – The third Clearfield woman who is reportedly involved with the Sept. 6 Subway robbery waived her right to a preliminary hearing at centralized court at the Clearfield County Jail on Wednesday.
Ashlea McGonigal, of Clearfield, is facing two counts of criminal conspiracy, as well as one count each of obstructing administration of law or other governmental function and false reports to law enforcement authorities.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the Clearfield Borough Police Department responded to a burglary that occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 6. Police interviewed McGonigal about the robbery on the following day.
McGonigal told police she was at the store with Keshia DuFour, who has also been charged in the case, at around 10 p.m., a few hours before the alleged incident. She said it was “just them, with the clerk Tiffany (Sylvester),” who also faces charges.
Police, then, asked McGonigal about the three guys who were reportedly in the store at the same time. She agreed that they were there but didn’t want them involved.
During her interview with police, McGonigal denied being in the back room, saying “she never went back there the entire night.”
Sylvester, however, had told police that both McGonigal and DuFour went into the back room for a cigarette. She said she went back and was told to leave. She said she heard some of conversation between the two, while she was cleaning the store.
Sylvester told police she heard DuFour ask, “Do you know how much drugs we can get out of this?” She said she also heard McGonigal say something to the effect that “we can hide it at my place in the basement.”
During the previously mentioned interview, police asked McGonigal repeatedly if she was or was not in the back room. She, later, stated she went back earlier that day (Sept. 5), when she changed her shoes.
McGonigal stated she stayed out front with the guys and DuFour on the night of Sept. 5 – just a few hours prior to the alleged robbery. She told police that she didn’t know anything and denied any involvement with the incident.
McGonigal said that she didn’t believe DuFour was involved either. She said if DuFour had been involved, she would have told her.
Police also spoke with the two men who had arrived at Subway at about 10 p.m. on Sept. 5. They said that after getting their sandwiches, all three of the women were out there with them for about five minutes. They said the three went to the back of the store and sat for the remainder of their stay.
The men said the women did check on them on one occasion before returning to the back room. Both males said they left at around 10:30 p.m.
After leaving the store, the two men went to the basketball courts, where police saw them later. At that time, both denied hearing anything about a robbery at the shop.
On Sept. 19, police returned a call to a known person. Police were told “there was more to the Subway robbery than was being told.” The person said two men were at his residence and informed him and his girlfriend that they were involved in the Subway robbery.
The person told police that the two were at the table and knew what was going to happen. He said the two men told him that they knew the money would be placed outside the door. The person told police the two men even said they helped spend the money.
Police, then, spoke to one of the men who they had been told was involved in the robbery. The man said after leaving Subway, he had gone to McGonigal’s residence along with DuFour. While there, he said Sylvester called and spoke with McGonigal, who apparently told her “not to go to police that everything was going to be OK.”
The man said that McGonigal and DuFour spoke about the money and informed him that “Ashlea and Tiffany’s half” was at McGonigal’s father’s residence. He said he was told that “Keshia’s half” was hidden in her car near the emergency brake.
Police said the man claimed that McGonigal had showed him the “change” that was taken from Subway. He told police that the “change” is to be in a jug, which is located in McGonigal’s bedroom.
On Sept. 20, police contacted DuFour and asked to speak to her about the new information that had accused her of lying, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
At first, DuFour denied lying and said she did throw the money in the river, as she had previously told police. She eventually said she did, in fact, spend the money that she had removed from Subway.
She told police that she obtained the money alone and returned to McGonigal’s residence. She said she put the money in her car in order to conceal it. She said she, later, informed McGonigal that she had the money.
DuFour told police that she and McGonigal used the money to purchase drugs and did them together. She stated that none of the money was left. She said she had asked McGonigal if the money could be stored at her father’s residence. She said McGonigal never agreed to it.
Police spoke with McGonigal on Sept. 20. She provided the same story and apologized for lying.
McGonigal’s bail was set at $10,000 unsecured.
Click here to read previous preliminary hearing coverage on the Subway robbery.