Bank Robberies

Man pleads innocent in Pa. robbery CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A man charged in a 1995 bank robbery pleaded innocent Wednesday in Franklin County Court and his case was scheduled for the May trial term. Oscar Timothy Robinson, 55, of 1075 Harrisburg Pike, Carlisle, was returned to Pennsylvania from Raleigh, N.C., in October, according to court documents. The robbery occurred on Sept. 19, 1995, at the Unitas National Bank branch at 1720 Lincoln Way East, according to the Pennsylvania State Police affidavit of probable cause.

A determined thief managed to steal money from a Hagerstown Trust bank night deposit box by yanking it open and fishing out the contents Monday night or Tuesday morning, police said. The metal deposit box was mounted on the brick outside wall of the Hagerstown Trust branch at 1551 Potomac Ave. The boxes are used primarily by commercial customers to make after-hours deposits using a key to open it. The device opens toward the depositor like a glovebox, police said. Bags containing an undisclosed amount of money were taken, said Dave Barnhart, Hagerstown Trust vice president of marketing.

Possible armed robbery suspect arrested in N.J. McCONNELLSBURG, Pa. - A series of armed bank robberies in Pennsylvania in March and April, including one on March 6 at the Fulton County National Bank in Warfordsfordsburg, have been solved with the arrest of a Huntingdon County man, state police said Thursday. David Arthur Lucas, 26, of Hesston, Pa., was captured near Atlantic City on Tuesday, according to Trooper Sean F. Flaherty of the McConnellsburg State Police Detachment.

HAGERSTOWN -- A "career bank robber" who also is a great-grandfather was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to 30 years in prison for a March holdup of the M&T Bank branch at 930 Dual Highway. Leroy Robinson, 59, of Fort Washington, Md., pleaded guilty to armed robbery, first-degree assault and use of a handgun in a crime of violence before Circuit Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr. It was Robinson's fourth bank robbery conviction, Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Michael said.

INWOOD, W.Va. A man wearing a mask and carrying a gun robbed the Jefferson Security Bank branch in Inwood Friday and managed to evade police, who stopped all traffic at a nearby intersection to try to find him, police said. The bank, on U.S. 11 across from Musselman High School, was robbed around 5 p.m. by a man wearing a red and yellow mask, possibly for a National Football League team, Berkeley County Sheriff Randy Smith said. The robber is described as a white man with a slender build, around 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing between 150 and 160 pounds, Smith said.

  [cont. from front page ] A "very tall" white man wearing a blue fleece jacket, yellow gloves and a dark hat, and blue jeans entered the bank around 9:25 a.m. and demanded money. No weapon was displayed, according to Hagerstown City Police. The man was last seen running southbound toward Bryan Place, police said. Today's robbery was the second in Washington County this year and the 10th at a Hagerstown Trust Co. branch since Sept. 13, 1996. Dave Barnhart, vice president of marketing for Hagerstown Trust could not be reached for comment.

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GERRARDSTOWN, W.Va. - A Gerrardstown man wanted in five states on bank robbery charges was rousted out of bed and arrested early Sunday after a short spot on "America's Most Wanted" led a tipster to call police. John Dennis Grubb, 55, charged in five bank robberies and suspected in 22 others, was in his underwear when he answered the door of his trailer off Loop Road and was greeted by police and a camera crew, said Mike Molnar, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based television show.

A former Hagerstown man serving 20 years for two bank robberies was in Washington County District Court Monday, having sued another bank for not preventing a woman from emptying his bank account. David Zeller, 59, formerly of the Dagmar Hotel, filed a claim against PNC Bank alleging it failed to properly monitor his account after he was incarcerated. He told District Judge Mark D. Thomas that unauthorized withdrawals from his account had been made, including withdrawals from automatic teller machines in Colorado.

Police log Teens charged with escaping center MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Two 17-year-old boys who were caught shortly after breaking out of Eastern Juvenile Detention Center Sunday were charged with escape. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department said the teens were apprehended on foot no more than a mile away after they left through a window between 2:30 and 2:50 a.m. The boys apparently pried back the wire mesh covering on a window and scaled a fence topped with razor wire.