Charges Filed In Montco, Philadelphia Store And Bank Robberies

ABINGTON, PA — A Philadelphia man has been charged with felony robbery and related crimes in connection with bank robberies, according to Abington Township Police.

Police said Richard Lawrence, 56, of Philadelphia, was charged Tuesday in Montgomery County with 10 counts of felony robbery charges, five counts of felony theft by unlawful taking, five felony counts of receiving stolen property, five counts of simple assault, and related crimes, according to court records.

According to police, the case against Lawrence began on Saturday, April 2.

Police said a man wearing Muslim clothing with his face covered came into TD Bank, 2900 Moreland Road in Abington's Willow Grove section.

The man demanded a teller give him "all the 50s and 100s" before leaving the area and heading back toward Philadelphia through Cheltenham Township, police said.

A Cheltenham police officer was able to get a license plate of the suspect’s getaway car, which police said was registered to Lawrence, according to police.

The vehicle was recovered a short time later in Philadelphia, and a few days later, Lawrence told Philadelphia Police his car was stolen, Abington Police said.

While investigating the bank robbery, detectives found similarities to several other recent robberies of commercial businesses in the region.

Police said in March, similar robberies occurred at Rite Aid, 8001 Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia; Walgreen’s, 7001 Frankford Ave. in Philadelphia; CVS, 890 Welsh Road in Horsham; and Rite Aid located, 1321 Easton Road in the Roslyn section of Abington Township.

These four robberies were all committed by the same suspect, who either threatened employees with a box cutter or implied that he had a weapon and demanded money from the safe, according to Abington Police.

Detectives were able to gather evidence linking the TD Bank robbery to the other four robberies, police said.

Authorities said Lawrence lied about his car being stolen and was actually the suspect in the robberies.

While detectives were working to get an arrest warrant for Lawrence on April 9, a subject walked into the TD Bank located at 2431 Cheltenham Ave. in Cheltenham and demanded money from a teller, police said.

Cheltenham Police arrested Lawrence as he left the bank and recovered the money from the robbery, Abington Police said.

After Lawrence was charged by Cheltenham Police and detained at Montgomery County Correctional Facility, Abington detectives began coordinating with Philadelphia and Montgomery County prosecutors to prepare charges for the additional robberies, authorities said.

Bail was set at $10,000.

Lawrence was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, where he was already being held.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 3, court documents show.