Man Robs Peters Township Bank; Photos Released

Photos of a man who robbed a bank in Peters Township last Friday were released by the FBI.

The unidentified man robbed a branch of KeyBank on Washington Road, Peters Township, at about 3:20 p.m. and another branch of the same bank in Coraopolis at 4:15 p.m.

The robber left with an undisclosed amount of money, after pointing a silver 9mm handgun at employees. He then fled in a white vehicle. No one was hurt in the Peters Township robbery, but police Chief Doug Grimes could not give reporters any more information.

Investigators say the robber is a muscular man about six feet tall. Photos show him wearing a black hood, black gloves, a white mask, and black sunglasses. One photo shows him pointing his gun, and the other shows his face with the mask pulled down.

The FBI is being assisted in the investigation by Peters Township police, Coraopolis police, and Allegheny County police. They are asking the public to help identify the man. If you know who he is, call the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office at (412) 432-4000.

No one’s going to win in this situation, unless it’s the cops who make the arrest and the district attorney who wins the case, if he does win. The bank employees have been traumatized, as have any customers who may have been in either of the buildings at the time. Sure, the tellers are trained to handle these situations, but if a man is willing to point a gun at another human being, there’s no telling what he might do with it. I’m sure they felt like they were looking death in the face at that point.

Not even the as-yet unidentified robber will win, because if he’s caught, he faces at least a night in jail, if he can post bail, and a long court process. He’ll have attorney fees and court costs to pay, and will lose out on time that could be devoted to his family. If he is convicted, he’ll deal with some pretty severe consequences.

Robbery with the conditions described in this case is a first-degree felony. The handgun is what escalates it to “first-degree,” which is the highest level of crime and comes with the harshest penalties. One of the requirements for robbery to be considered a first-degree felony is that the alleged perpetrator threatened someone with “serious bodily injury” or puts them “in fear of serious bodily injury.” Pointing that gun at the tellers certainly meets that definition. The prison sentence that goes along with a conviction for the charge can be as long as 20 years. That would be a really long time, even if he ended up serving only half.

Now, there are defenses that a good Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney can use in court. The man in the photos is covered well. In the one picture, we can see nothing of his face or his body. He’s covered completely. In the other photo, we can see his nose, cheeks, and lips, but his hair, his ears, and his eyes are covered. We don’t know what he really looks like. This can be used as a defense tactic.

The robber was wearing gloves, which means the only fingerprints on the gun, assuming police find it, are going to be from someone who handled it prior to or after the robbery. You can’t prove a man robbed a bank with a gun if he wore gloves during the act.

In the end, this is another case that highlights why committing a crime is never worth the long-term consequences. If the robber is convicted, this man will miss out on so much: raising his kids, hugging his mother, attending a football game, and much, much more. If convicted, he’ll spend years doing what he is told, when he is told, and even when he gets out, it will be difficult for him to find employment or housing. Seriously, people, stop breaking the law! There’s always a better way.