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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Jesse Lumberger
Cemetery clothing DNA tags bank robber
Crime | On May 15, 2013, a Huntington Bank in McKeesport, PA was robbed at knife point. The robber left on foot with $3,700 in cash. |
Evidence | A blue shirt and a pair of jeans were recovered, discarded by the robber in the McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery while fleeing the crime scene. |
DNA | The Allegheny County crime lab developed DNA mixture data from this biological evidence. There was DNA from at least three people on each of the clothing items. |
Match | The crime lab's manual inclusion analysis of the DNA mixtures could not produce a match statistic much beyond a hundred thousand. |
TrueAllele | On the same DNA data, the computer separated the mixtures into their genetic components. TrueAllele connected Mr. Lumberger to the blue shirt with a match statistic of 117 quintillion, and to the jeans pockets with a statistic of 1.82 quadrillion. |
Cybergenetics | On December 2, 2014, Dr. Mark Perlin testified at the Allegheny County trial before the Honorable Joseph Williams, III about the DNA match statistics in this case. |
Outcome | Lumberger was found guilty of two counts of robbery, and other charges. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison on the felony one robbery conviction. |
Media
- McKeesport police arrest man in Huntington bank robbery Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- DNA evidence produces new charges in McKeesport bank robbery Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
- Jury convicts McKeesport man in 2013 bank robbery Pittsburgh Tribune-Review