Community Corner

Audubon Bank Robber Also Committed Crimes in Montgomery Township, Police Say

Police said a local cab company helped them capture the man they believe robbed the First Niagra Bank in Audubon, as well as others in Plymouth and Montgomery townships.

Lower Providence Police have a man in custody they believe robbed the First Niagra Bank at Trooper and Egypt roads in Audubon shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday morning, as well as banks in Plymouth and Montgomery townships. Kyle Anthony Wilson, 21, of Fort Washington, was captured in under an hour after a tip from a local cab company led police to his whereabouts in Philadelphia.

Authorities believe Wilson is also responsible for the robberies of the PNC Bank at 2450 Chemical Road in Plymouth Township on Wednesday, March 11 and a Citizen’s Bank in Montgomery Township on Wednesday, March 6. Patch covered the Plymouth robbery here on March 12, as well as the Citizen's Bank robbery here.

"The arrest of Mr. Wilson for this series of bank robberies is the direct result of outstanding cooperation, communication and coordination between the Montgomery Township Police Department, the Plymouth Township Police Department, the Philadelphia Police Department and the Lower Providence Township Police Department," said Lower Providence Township Police Chief Francis L. Carroll in a release. "The ability of the various agencies to share information in a timely manner was instrumental in Wilson’s apprehension."

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According to the release, the Lower Providence Township Police Department was dispatched for a report of a robbery in progress at the First Niagara Bank at 2624 Egypt Road in Audubon at 11:09 a.m. on Thursday, March 14. Bank employees told police that a white male had entered the bank and had approached a teller window and demanded money, displaying a handgun. The teller provided the suspect with an undetermined amount of currency and he fled the bank on foot. 

Officers from the Lower Providence Township Police Department, the West Norriton Township Police Department and a canine unit from the Pottstown Police Department conducted a search of the area but did not locate the suspect. 

Find out what's happening in Montgomeryville-Lansdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Believing the suspect may have been involved in a similar robbery of a Plymouth Township bank recently, authorities, on the advice of Plymouth Police, alerted SEPTA and Germantown Cab Company to ask if there had been any fares matching the suspect's description. Germantown Cab Company reported that they had a fare who had requested to be taken from the Audubon area to Front Street and Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia, but fled the cab in the area of Second Street and Cambria Avenue.

LPPD notified the Philadelphia Police Department and two Lower Providence detectives who were in the city on an unrelated matter. The suspect was located and positively identified as Wilson. He was taken into custody at 12:05 p.m.

Money from the bank robbery was recovered from Wilson and the handgun used in the robbery and a coat that was worn by the bank robber were recovered from a trash can in the Audubon Square Shopping Center near the bank. 

Wilson, whose last known address is in the 1200 block of Nash Drive, Fort Washington, has been charged with robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, possessing instruments of crime and related offenses. Wilson has also been charged with robbery and related offenses in connection with the March 11 bank robbery in Plymouth as well as another bank robbery of a Citizen’s Bank in Montgomery Township on Wednesday, March 6. 

Wilson has been remanded to Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of bail.

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Original story:

Police are on the scene at the First Niagara Bank at Trooper and Egypt roads in Audubon Thursday morning investigating a bank robbery that occurred sometime around 11 a.m. Police have closed the scene and a K9 unit from Pottstown Police is on the scene to aid with the search for the perpetrator.

A description of the bank robber has not yet been released and it's unclear how much money the robber made off with. Officers are currently interviewing customers inside the bank at the time of the robbery.

A customer inside the bank at the time said that he and other customers were unaware the bank was being robbed. The man told Patch he was behind the robber, an unidentified male, in line. When the customer approached the teller, the teller said the bank had just been robbed.

It was unclear if the robber was armed.

Patch will update this story as more information is available.


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