Two New York State men who are charged with assaulting a Tamaqua man in the state game lands in Walker Township were arraigned Monday morning in the district attorney's office at the Schuylkill County Courthouse in Pottsville on criminal charges and both entered pleas of not guilty to the criminal charges filed against them and requested trial by jury.

Philiip E. Hemminger, Jr., 18, of Block River, New York and Andrew M. O'Connor, 19, Carthae, New York , have each been charged by Trooper Edward Lizewski with criminal conspiracy, robbbery by threatening another person with serious bodily injury, robbery of a motor vehicle, arson by reckeslly burning a vehicle, theft, terroristic threats, simple assault and dangerous burning.The information filed to court claims Trooper Lizewski was dispatched on October 3 to Saint Lukes/ Miners Memorial Hospital in Coaldale to interview William Joseph Hankey, Jr., 111 Clay Street, Tamaqua, for a report of burglary and assault. Hankey related on October 2 he was preparing to go hunting in the State Game Lands located in the area known as Oak Ridge Road, Walker Township when he was ambushed by two men dressed primarily in black clothing wearing black masks. He was struck on the head with the stock of an assault weapon and when he fell to the ground was kicked several times and struck in his back with the barrels of the assault weapons. Keys to his pickup truck were removed from his pocket and a cell phone. Hankey fled into the woods to avoid any further confrontation and remained in the woods overnight,. The two men left the scene in his truck. Hackey told police about $2,000 worth of property was in his truck.Meanwhile another state trooper, Mario Pompei, was dispatched later in the day to a vehicle fire on the acces road into State Game Lands in Walker Township, about two tenths of a mile east of where Hankey was assaulted and the cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary. Contacting New York State Police it was learned the vehicle was registered to P. E. Hemminger, of Black River, New York. New York Police also reported a burglary had occurred on October 1 at Herb Philipson's sporting goods store in Watertown, New York and several rifles were stolen and police suspected Phillip Hemminer and Andrew O'Connor as suspects with their whereabouts unknown.On October 5 state police in Schuylkill County were notified by police from Rolla City, Missouri, that they found Hankey's truck including personal hunting equipment and a Pennsylvania hunting license in Hankey's name and had apprehended two men identified as Hemminger and O'Connor. The vehicle bore a registration tag in Hemminger's name and that both men were attempting to pawn weapons.