CRANBERRY TWP — Charges were changed at a preliminary hearing for a Pittsburgh man and a township woman who were arrested in April in connection with a vehicle that police allege was used in an armed robbery in McKeesport.

District Judge Kevin Flaherty on Friday declined to dismiss a felony unlicensed carrying of a gun charge against Danielle I. Agrate, 39, and approved a request from Assistant District Attorney David Beichner to add charges of receiving stolen property to both Agrate and DePaul A. Suzensky, 38. All other charges were held for court.

After following a vehicle associated with an armed robbery in McKeesport to a home in Cranberry, township police detective Justin Hewitt said police observed Agrate hiding an Aldi shopping bag containing a gun in a collapsed canopy tent in the backyard.

The firearm was reported stolen by its owner after Agrate and Suzensky were arrested. The owner had noticed the gun was missing about 30 days prior, Hewitt said, but had thought it was misplaced and did not report it stolen until approached by police.

Agrate’s attorney, Michael Foglia, argued that while Agrate did not have a license to carry the firearm, she was carrying it on her own property, and as such was not required to have a firearm license.

Foglia and Suzensky’s attorney, Anne Marie Mancuso, argued that the receiving stolen property charges were not warranted because Agrate and Suzensky may not have known the gun was stolen. Beichner countered that either way, they were not the owners of the gun.

Foglia added that the gun was different than the one associated with the McKeesport robbery. Three cellphones reported stolen from the McKeesport home invasion and the gun were not found at the house in Cranberry.

Drug charges were held for court, as Hewitt explained that police had found drugs and drug paraphernalia, including crack cocaine, methamphetamines and a powdery white substance in a drawer upon searching the home.

Foglia said the defense had learned on the day of the hearing that the gun was stolen.

“I think the judge was correct on the (unlicensed carrying of a firearm),” he said. “We were surprised that the gun turned out to be stolen. That’s something we learned today.”

An arraignment was scheduled for Nov. 15.