Connellsville bank robbery suspect turned in by his family
Knopsnider Jr.
Surveillance photo courtesy of Connellsville Police
Surveillance photo courtesy of Connellsville Police
When family members of a South Connellsville man saw surveillance photos from a Wednesday bank robbery, they picked up the phone and called police.
Those calls led Connellsville police to Larry Dale Knopsnider Jr., 30, of 2nd Street, who was charged with robbing the PNC Bank on Memorial Boulevard.
Police alleged Knopsnider was armed when he robbed the bank around 2:30 p.m. Authorities were able to quickly release a fairly clear photo from bank surveillance.
Connellsville Police Chief Jim Capitos said once the surveillance photo was made public, citizens came forward with several leads. There were a handful of individuals who did look like Knopsnider, but were later eliminated as suspects, the chief said.
By 8:30 p.m., police said, they started getting calls from people who said they were family of Knopsnider, identifying him as the man who robbed the bank.
According to Capitos, the bank teller was able to provide details that also lead police to hone in on Knopsnider.
Knopsnider was charged with robbery, simple assault, terroristic threats, theft, receiving stolen property, harassment and disorderly conduct.
He was taken into custody at his home, police said, and arraigned around 4 a.m. Thursday. He was committed to the Fayette County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bond.
This was not Knopsnider鈥檚 first run-in with the law.
In December 2008, Knopsnider was working for CRH Catering Co., and claimed he was jumped while walking from his truck into the building on Morrell Avenue in Dunbar Township.
He told state police an unidentified man took a plastic crate containing moneybags full of the cash Knopsnider had collected from vending machines, giving police a detailed description of the alleged suspect.
Police later learned the robbery story was a hoax. Through further investigation, it was determined that Knopsnider stole nearly $5,000 of money owned by CRH Catering from the machines over a five-month period beginning in September 2009.
He was sentenced to three to six years in prison for that crime, and other unrelated theft cases.