Plymouth PNC Robber Also Hit Audubon Bank, Police Say

A Fort Washington man who was arrested for allegedly robbing a First Niagra Bank in Audubon on Thursday is also believed to have robbed the PNC bank in the Giant Food Store on Chemical Road in Plymouth Township on Tuesday, according to police.

Kyle Anthony Wilson, 21, of Fort Washington, was captured by Lower Providence Police in less than an hour after allegedly robbing the First Niagra Bank after a tip from a local cab company led police to his whereabouts in Philadelphia.

Authorities believe Wilson is also responsible for the robbery of a Citizen’s Bank in Montgomery Township on March 6.

"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," Lower Providence Township Police Chief Francis L. Carroll said in a release. "The ability of the various agencies to share information in a timely manner was instrumental in Wilson’s apprehension."

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. Bank employees told police 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 K-9 unit from the Pottstown Police Department conducted a search of the area but did not locate the individual. 

Believing the individual 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 Co. to ask if there had been any fares matching the alleged robber's description.

Germantown Cab Co. reported 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 alleged robber 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, police said.

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.