Published: Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Reward of $5,000 is offered in robbery
Authorities think the robbers got into a second getaway vehicle on the city's southeast side.
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN — It's been several years since the Mahoning Valley Security Officers Group had to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of bank robbery suspects, but it's now offering $5,000 for information in the robbery of the Farmers National Bank branch at Youngstown Road and Central Parkway.
The robbery Wednesday caused the injury of a bank employee.
Chuck Commons, vice president of Cortland Savings & Banking Co. and president of the 10-bank security organization, said it has had a financial reward committee for about 30 years. But most robberies do not involve injuries to bank employees, so it has not had to offer a reward, he said.
The 10 banks in the organization are Chase Bank, Cortland Savings & Banking Co., Farmers National Bank, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, First Place Bank, Greater Warren Community Federal Credit Union, Home Federal Savings & Loan Association, Home Savings & Loan Co., Sky Bank and Seven-Seventeen Credit Union.
Shot fired
In the Farmers National robbery, one of three armed men fired a shot at a glass divider that separates the main bank from the drive-through section, causing the glass to shatter and injuring the employee. A bank spokesman said the woman was released from the hospital and took some days off.
Police described the men wearing dark clothing and masks; the search for them continues.
After the gunmen left the bank in a stolen minivan, dye packs with the money exploded, leaving at least some of the cash useless.
If you know something ...
The financial reward committee is asking that anyone with information about the robbery call the Canfield Police Department at (330) 533-2017, the Youngstown office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at (330) 965-2940, or Lt. Gary Vingle of the Warren Police Department at (330) 841-2656.
A door-to-door search began after police found the getaway vehicle, a turquoise Pontiac Transport minivan, abandoned in an apartment complex on Duke Street, off state Route 169 on the city's southeast side.
Police at the scene speculated that the robbers had a second getaway vehicle to take them out of Warren.
Law enforcement officers from Hubbard, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, U.S. Marshals Service, Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force and agents from the FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation helped with the search.
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