Bank robbery suspects identified
A Coal Center man charged with robbing a Redstone Township bank Thursday afternoon is denying he committed the heist and told investigators that witnesses that identified him as one of two suspects are lying.
State police Trooper Christian D. Lieberum said Robert P. Lilley Jr., 29, of 13 School St. and co-conspirator Jessica Marie Sullivan, 24, of 1403 Hunters Ridge, Redstone Township, were each charged with two counts of robbery and single counts of aggravated assault, theft, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person following the robbery at the Parkvale Bank on Route 40.
Lieberum said the duo was nabbed by police after two witnesses to the crime followed the alleged robbers as they fled from the scene and provided police with detailed information leading to their arrests.
Lilley and Sullivan were identified and tracked to a residence in Hunters Ridge following the robbery by several area residents who witnessed the holdup.
Lieberum said that shortly before 3 p.m., Lilley entered the bank wearing all black and wielding a handgun approached multiple tellers and ordered them to fill a bag with money.
After the bank employees put more than $10,000 into the sack, Lieberum said Lilley fled the building where he was picked up in a car driven by Sullivan and the couple fled to a residence in Hunters Ridge.
Lieberum said that through information provided to police from several witnesses, including Melanie Mathianas of Brownsville and Donald Huntsberger of Kentucky, officers were able to locate the couple and take them into custody.
He noted that Lilley and Sullivan went so far as to cover the license plate of their car with a bag to conceal their identity but added that Mathianas and Huntsberger, independent of one another, were each able to follow the suspects to Sullivan’s residence in Hunters Ridge and also were able see them enter and exit the bank.
Lieberum said that while questioning Lilley, he denied committing the robbery and blamed it on a man named “Jerome,” who he said had taken his car for a test drive.
He could not provide police with Jerome’s last name and identified him as a “drug dealer friend” who he owed money, Lieberum said.
Lilley also told police that witnesses who reported seeing him enter and exit the bank and also reported seeing him in the car were lying.
Both Lilley and Sullivan were placed in Fayette County Prison on $75,000 straight cash bond following their arraignments late Thursday.
Preliminary hearings will be held at a later time before Magisterial District Judge Mike Defino Jr.