District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer reports that a Bradford woman was convicted after a jury trial at the McKean County Courthouse on January 20th.  Samantha HINCHMAN was charged by Bradford City Police Officer Hobie Milliron after a blind man reported three guitars stolen from his Orchard Apartments residence in 2024. 

The victim testified that he had been communicating with HINCHMAN and the two made plans for her to spend the night at his apartment on February 5, 2024. After she arrived, she claimed that she had to go babysit in another apartment but she urged him to keep his apartment door open and, after text messages throughout the night and into the next day, he left the door unlocked and went to sleep. 

He heard what he thought was his apartment door closing a few hours later, but no one was in the apartment.  He later discovered that the guitars were missing.  He kept them in a certain place within his apartment and he regularly handled them.  He called the building manager to look for video footage of the guitar thieves. 

The jury viewed video of the building showing HINCHMAN and her co-defendant Justin ANDERSON leaving the apartment with the guitars.  Another resident of the building testified that he knew HINCHMAN from school and, when he saw her in the elevator of the building that day, she asked him for a ride and he did not think it was suspicious at the time.  HINCHMAN then directed the man to take her and ANDERSON to various locations in Bradford including Kiwanis Court and then a parking lot in the rear of a Main Street apartment building where City cameras showed the man exit the vehicle in the direction of a known apartment, then return to the vehicle, and exit again with what appears to be the guitars. 

Two of the three stolen guitars were then taken by ANDERSON to a music store in Jamestown, whose owner testified that the guitars were worth $3950.  He agreed to buy them but cancelled the check after learning they were stolen and he turned the guitars over to Officer Milliron. HINCHMAN and ANDERSON were both charged in the case with Theft and conspiring to commit theft. 

ANDERSON pled guilty to Theft (Felony 3) last year.  The jury convicted HINCHMAN of Theft (Felony 3) (value more than $2000) and could not agree on a unanimous verdict on the Conspiracy charge so a verdict of hung jury was declared as to that count alone.  HINCHMAN will be sentenced by the Judge for Theft on March 5.