The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

January 14, 2010

UPDATE: Robbing banks ‘easiest’ option, man tells police

By Joe Pinchot

GROVE CITY — The Meadville man accused of attempting to rob Farmers National Bank in Grove City, and robbing or trying to rob three others, told police he turned to bank robbery because he had been down on his luck.

“To walk into a bank and hand a note was the easiest way for me to get some financial structure without having to hurt anyone,” Jeffrey K. Witscher, 45, said in a statement filed in his court docket.

Witscher said he had committed “some stupid acts” and knew that what he was doing was wrong.

The gun he used in the robberies was a toy, he told the FBI. He carried it so people would take him seriously.

“I wish to apologize to all the tellers involved,” he said. “I hope they find it in their hearts to forgive me.”

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, Erie, ordered Thursday that Witscher be detained.

Witscher was arrested Dec. 30 in Franklin after he handed a demand note to a teller at First United National Bank, but left after she said she would get someone to help him.

A bank employee followed him and he was nabbed by police.

Witscher is charged with attempting to rob the Farmer’s bank on Nov. 20, and the Franklin bank, and robbing the banks in Erie Nov. 25 and Dec. 8, getting away with $8,864.

He also admitted robbing a bank in Andover, Ohio, in mid-December of $2,300. Witscher is not charged in that robbery, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall J. Piccinini, Erie, said it has not been determined how that case will be handled. Andover is in the federal Northern District of Ohio, while the other banks are all in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Typically, a defendant who robs banks in more than one state and wishes to enter a guilty plea is allowed to plead in one state, with the facts of the robbery in another state factoring into the sentence, Piccinini said.

Concerning the Grove City robbery at 1319 W. Main St., Witscher said he did not remember details of it, but identified himself from bank surveillance photographs.

He said the teller laughed at him and said something to the effect of, “Are you kidding me?” to him. He said the ball cap he wore was the same one he used at an Erie robbery, and that the sunglasses were in his pickup.

The FBI said the robbery occurred at 2:44 p.m., and his demand note, written in the pages of a checkbook, said “This is a holdup. Give me all your money, no singles.”

The teller saw Witscher had a hand in his left pocket and appeared to have a gun.

After the teller asked Witscher if he was serious, he responded, “Can’t you read?” The teller said, “No,” and Witscher ran, taking the demand note with him.

Witscher told police this was the first time he had ever tried to rob a bank.

Witscher said he moved to Meadville about two years ago after serving a six-year prison sentence for a sex crime in North Carolina. He claimed to be innocent of the crime.

The next likely step in the bank robbery case is for Witscher to indicted by a grand jury, unless he agrees to waive indictment and plead guilty to charges filed by the government in a bill of information.

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