Man suspected in bank heist nabbed

By PATRICK BUCHNOWSKI
The Tribune-Democrat

September 30, 2008 10:25 pm

— Just days after he was charged with stealing copper from an area business, a Johnstown-area man was charged with robbing an East Taylor Township bank.
John Matthew Fletcher, 28, of the 1700 block of William Penn Avenue, was charged Monday with robbing 1st Summit Bank of $3,473 on Thursday and phoning in a bomb threat to divert police.
On Friday, Johnstown police charged Fletcher with stealing copper from Enmacon Service Corp., 120 Iron St. Police say Fletcher cut the fence surrounding the property and took 37 pounds of copper, which he later sold to a scrap yard.
State police said Fletcher wore a disguise and a held a hunting knife during the brazen daylight bank robbery.
He entered the bank at 454 Park Hill Drive and declared, “This is a robbery,” police said.
Troopers said he threw a plastic bag at a teller and said, “Put all the money from your drawer in the bag.”
Fletcher ordered a second teller to do the same and then ran across the street, police said.
The next day, Fletcher burned the hooded sweatshirt, gloves and bandanna under a railroad bridge, troopers said.
Investigators later recovered the bank money from two locations. The knife reportedly was recovered from the home of Fletcher’s mother.
Troopers said Fletcher was hiding in woods near the bank when he placed a cell phone call to Cambria County 911 and said a bomb was inside an East Taylor Township school. That caused the evacuation of two schools.
After township police drove past, Fletcher emerged from the woods and robbed the bank, troopers said.
Fletcher was arraigned by on-call District Judge Max Pavlovich on counts of robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, simple assault, reckless endangerment, terroristic threats and giving false reports.
He is being held in Cambria County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bond.