Pittsburgh-area woman accused of stealing $37K raised for cousin after disabling motorcycle crash

An Apollo woman is facing charges after police said she allegedly stole donations that were raised for an injured family member.

Vanessa Lewis is accused of stealing nearly $40,000 from her cousin Josh Robinson and using it for her own personal gain. She's currently out of jail on $10,000 unsecured bail. A mugshot wasn't available as of Wednesday. 

Robinson's family told KDKA-TV that he was severely injured in a motorcycle crash in 2022, leaving him unable to walk or talk.

"He suffered a lot of surgeries, craniotomies, he's been through a lot," said Joy Stegner, Josh's mom.

The accident happened on 819 near Hilty Road in Saltsburg.

"He was on a motorcycle. He was by himself on a back road going around a very sharp bend where there's a lot of gravel," Stegner said. "We don't know if an animal may have, you know, gone out in front of him. We don't know if he just slid on the gravel. I guess we'll never know until he would ever be able to remember."

She said Robinson suffers from a traumatic brain injury.

"He's totally immobile. He's totally incapacitated," Stegner said. "I just pray and pray to God almost daily and hope that God heals his brain."

Over the years, Stegner said the community has rallied behind his recovery through several different events to help raise funds to get him the care he needs.

She said his cousin, Vanessa Lewis, started a GoFundMe account and opened a First Commonwealth Bank checking account after the crash to assist in paying for Robinson's care.

Stegner said they have never used any of the money yet but had hoped to use it to buy a handicap accessible home.

"He's currently living in our living room. His bedroom is our living room," Stegner said. "So I called Vanessa up to see if she could give us some of the funds that she had been taking care of for us since the accident happened and she had said that she moved the funds because she was hacked."

That's when the family contacted state police.

"After she said that, I kind of got suspicious after hearing the hacking part. She never contacted me and told me about it," Stegner said. "Then I found out that she's been taking funds out for frivolous things like a Carnival Cruise. It was nothing in need and she is my niece."

The Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office said bank records showed the account previously had a balance of more than $40,000 in August of 2024 and by March of 2025, the account had a balance of $3,043.

"In total, investigators said Lewis spent or transferred more than $37,000 from bank accounts benefitting the victim to her own personal bank accounts for her own personal gain," the district attorney's office said.

"It really hurt badly to know that she would do that to her cousin," Stegner said. "I didn't know that a family member could do that to another family member that is disabled, like my son is, you know?"

State police said another transaction shows Lewis spent $6,243 for a Carnival Cruise in Florida.

"My heart breaks for him. I just don't get it, how anybody could take advantage of someone that is down as he is, and she's out living her life. I can't understand that," Stegner said.

Lewis was arrested and charged with theft by deception, financial exploitation of a care dependent person, receiving stolen property and theft by failure to deposit funds.

Editor's note: The GoFundMe picture in the video above shows Josh Robinson and his cousin, Meghan Marsili, not the suspect, Vanessa Lewis.