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Ex-girlfriend charged in attack

Robin Hecker
Assault was in Aug. 2013

Nearly 2½ years after a woman allegedly attacked her then boyfriend with a box cutter, Butler police have charged her with the crime.

Robin Danette Hecker, 54, of Lyndora was placed in the Butler County Prison on Wednesday, five days after a warrant was issued for her arrest for felony assault.

Despite the lapse in time since the purported crime, last week’s filing easily beat the deadline to charge her under state law.

“It’s a five-year-statute of limitations,” Butler County Assistant District Attorney, Richard Bosco, who consulted with police, said Wednesday.

Hecker is accused of cutting John J. Jackson on Aug. 19. 2013, when they lived together at a home on Mercer Street.

The suspected attack left Jackson, who is now 39, with a large cut on his side and two other deep cuts on both legs.

Police at the time of the original call found the couple at the home. But Jackson claimed he got his injuries after four people jumped him, according to court documents.

Hecker told officers that she did not know what happened to her boyfriend.

The victim was subsequently taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment that included 30 stitches to his side and 20 stitches to each leg.

But police doubted what Hecker and Jackson told them. However, they would not change their accounts.

“And Jackson stated he wanted no further police involvement,” Lt. James Hollobaugh said in his affidavit.

The case went cold.

But police last week dusted off the file after Jackson was arrested for domestic abuse. He is charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching his current girlfriend Feb. 7 at their home on Virginia Avenue.

While Jackson was being strip searched, Hollobaugh noticed a large scar on his left side. When the officer questioned Jackson about it, he blamed “Robin” for the injury that happened in 2013, documents said.

He told police that she also cut his legs during the same attack.

“(Jackson) stated he wished to prosecute and would provide a statement,” Hollobaugh’s affidavit said.

The incident 30 months ago, he recounted, followed a night of heavy drinking. During an argument, Hecker repeatedly cut him with a box cutter, he said.

“He did not tell the truth when this occurred,” documents said, “because he was in love with her.”

District Judge Sue Haggerty on Wednesday arraigned Hecker on charges of aggravated assault, a first-degree felony, and reckless endangerment, a second-degree misdemeanor.

In Pennsylvania, Bosco said, prosecution for the crime of aggravated assault must be commenced within five years after it is committed. For reckless endangerment, the statute of limitations is two years.

Bosco said both charges are appropriate in Hecker’s case since they were part of the same conduct.

Hecker is being held in the county prison on $10,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is set for 10:30 a.m. Monday.

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