Pennsylvania: Man Charged in Mercer County Skill Game Machine Thefts; Second Suspect Sought

A stolen pistol led Pennsylvania State Police to a Mercer County man they now accuse of taking part in a morning of thefts on Oct. 7, 2026, that included a pickup truck, a trailer and skill game machines from a mini-mart and a gas station.

Brandon Smith, 29, of Mercer, faces 33 charges, most of them felonies, WFMJ reported on Oct. 23, 2026, citing state police. They include theft, receiving stolen property, firearms violations and manufacturing, delivering or possessing with intent to deliver a controlled substance. He is free on a $100,000 bond. WKBN also reported the arrest. The charges have not been proven in court.

A stolen gun, a stolen truck and two break-ins

The case began when Grove City police arrested Smith in the early hours of Oct. 7, 2026, carrying a pistol reported stolen from Worth Township. Police said he is a convicted felon and cannot legally have a gun.

That pistol had been inside a Ford F-150 stolen from a home on Kilgore Road earlier the same day, along with a rifle, power tools and $1,000, the owner told police.

Investigators suspect the same pickup was used that morning by two masked men who took three gaming machines from Veado’s Mini-Mart in Hempfield Township. Not long after, surveillance video at the Ashland Oil gas station on Mercer Road in Stoneboro showed a pickup, this time towing a trailer, and the suspects loading skill game machines before driving off, according to WFMJ. Police believe the trailer was stolen that morning on Mercer Road, about half a mile from where the truck was taken.

A hand-drawn map of the store

Smith’s wife let troopers search their home on Church Street in Findley Township, WFMJ reported. Police said they found the stolen trailer, the power tools and six skill game machines, five of them from the Ashland Oil station. They also found a hand-drawn diagram of what looked like the layout of the machines inside Veado’s, plus 10 marijuana plants hanging in a barn loft and two large bins of processed marijuana, one full and one half full.

The truck itself was still missing until a state police helicopter flew over the 66-acre property and the pilot guided officers on the ground to it.

The second man got away

Smith’s wife told police that Kevin Janscar, 31, of Mercer, may have been involved, according to WFMJ. Troopers spotted Janscar on an e-bike in Mercer borough on their way back to headquarters, police said, and he ran into the woods south of town. A helicopter search did not find him, though officers found a bag with controlled substances and drug paraphernalia.

Police said an e-bike had been used in an earlier skill game theft and that Janscar was already wanted as a suspect in previous crimes in Mercer and Crawford counties. He had not been arrested as of Oct. 23, 2026, and WFMJ did not report whether he has been charged in the Oct. 7 thefts.

The break-ins happened a week before Pennsylvania began enforcing its ban on unlicensed skill games on Oct. 14, 2026, following a state Supreme Court ruling. Game Empress covered that deadline here.

Featured image: The Mercer County Courthouse in Mercer, Pennsylvania, in 2010. Photo: Canadian2006 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)