Police Say Motel Is 'Haven for Criminal Activity'

Robinson Police arrested a couple who authorities said have a history of using illegal firearms and cited the Steubenville Pike motel that housed the pair. 

Officers arrested 20-year-old Ashlyn Rhea and 31-year-old Michael McKeel Arnold, both of Pittsburgh, June 19 on Steubenville Pike. Rhea was wanted on charges in South Carolina and Arnold had a warrant for his arrest in Pennsylvania. 

Rhea and Arnold were spotted outside of the Sunoco gas station at 4311 Steubenville Pike. Employees of the gas station called police after they saw the pair urinating near the building and Rhea vomiting in the parking lot.

The couple is "considered extremely dangerous with a propensity for illegal use of firearms," Sgt. Joel Hamilton said in a report. 

Police said the couple was staying overnight at the Pittsburgh Motel, located across the street from the gas station.  

The motel has no record of Rhea and Arnold in its registry, which violates Robinson Township ordinance for hotels, according to the report. The motel only noted that two people were staying in room 16. 

Police said the motel has become a draw for criminal activity.

"The Pittsburgh Motel is a repeat offender of this ordinance and, because of their lack of compliance, has become a haven for criminal activity and wanted persons," Hamilton wrote in the report. 

A friend of the couple paid for the one night's stay in the room, but motel staff did not obtain identification and signatures from Rhea and Arnold, who were the room's only occupants, police said. 

Robinson Township requires hotels to record the identification of all adult room occupants. 

The hotel has been issued a non-traffic citation for the offense, police said. 

"The Pittsburgh Motel has been cited several times for similar ordinance violations and been found guilty at summary trials," Hamilton wrote in the report. "Yet they refuse to comply and continue to be in violation."