Drugs may have motivated a man to rob a Susquehanna Bank near Carlisle, not once, but twice within two weeks. State Police today arrested a man and woman in connection with the heist, finding cash and heroin in their possession.
The two times the masked robber hit this bank he demanded money, fled out the front doors on foot behind a business school and disappearing into a housing development. Yesterday, the bandit brandished a handgun.
A neighbor, living across the street from the couple’s apartment in SouthMiddleton Township, found the couple suspicious.
Debbie Kuhn:"They didn’t talk to anybody. They didn’t have a vehicle. He was very thin. He was very shaky and being an E.R. nurse for many years, I thought I recognized symptoms of a drug user.”
According to court documents, State Police had identified Tilden as a possible suspect after the first robbery. Following yesterday’s hold up, troopers went to his home only a half mile from the bank. They stopped a man leaving the house and carrying a white bag. He consented to a search and in the bag was clothing similar to that worn by the robber. He told police they could find Tilden at the RedRoof Inn on the Harrisburg Pike.
Police found Tilden standing in the door of room 243. In plain view police saw nearly 500 packets of wax-wrapped heroin labeled “Lady Gaga” and cash. Lopez was arrested for what she knew and what she did.Trooper Adam Reed, PA State Police:
"She was aware of what was going on. After the first robbery she was aware where the money came from and she was helping him spend it and helping him hide it.”
Court records show the couple was being evicted and both are unemployed. A bank teller told police after both robberies, the suspect walked away, then turned and said, “Thank you. Have a nice day.”