A McCandless man has admitted to going on a bank robbery spree in the span of a week in the fall of 2018, robbing three banks and trying to rob a fourth.
Dylan Poole, 24, pleaded guilty on March 21 in U.S. District Court to bank robbery and attempted bank robbery in regard to holdups in McCandless, Donegal, Wexford and Latrobe.
Poole robbed a WesBanco branch in McCandless on Nov. 8, a PNC branch in Donegal on Nov. 9 and a First National branch in Wexford on Nov. 13.
He was about to rob a PNC in Latrobe on Nov. 15 when the FBI grabbed him.
In the Latrobe case, he was about to walk into the bank with a note that read: "I have a gun this is a robbery empty the drawer no funny business no one gets hurt."
The note was similar to others he'd left at the scene of the robberies in Donegal and Wexford.
The Nov. 13 holdup was captured on video from a nearby church, and the FBI was able to track a Hyundai Sonata fleeing the scene. A license reader recorded the plate, and the FBI traced the car to Poole's residence on Salisbury Court.
On Nov. 15, agents set up surveillance on Poole at his house.
They followed him as he drove to Latrobe. When he was about to walk into the bank, agents arrested him.
A search of his car turned up money stolen in the Nov. 13 robbery.
He later admitted to agents that he robbed the banks, the FBI said.
Poole got a few thousand dollars in each heist.
U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak set sentencing for July. Poole faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.
First Published: March 28, 2022, 3:23 p.m.
