Crime & Safety

Phoenixville Bank Robbed, Suspect in Custody

Karl Bruce Edwards, 52, of Phoenixville, was arrested and is being held on $500,000 bail.

A man got away with more than $10,000 in cash after a robbery Friday, and police have a suspect in custody.

Karl Bruce Edwards, 52, of the 100 block of Bridge Street in Phoenixville, is in prison on charges stemming from a heist at Wells Fargo Bank at 101 S. Main St. The robbery occurred on First Friday downtown, and the bank is located two blocks away from the Phoenixville Police Station.

According to a criminal complaint, Phoenixville police received a call for a bank robbery on Aug. 5 at 4:21 p.m. A black man described as 5 feet 8 inches tall weighing approximately 180 pounds in his late 30s to mid-40s walked into the bank and handed the teller a note on dirty white paper or a manila envelope. The note read “Money no die packs,” according to police.

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“The black male then uttered to the teller ‘I want this. Don’t do anything stupid,’” according to the criminal complaint.

The teller was “extremely scared for her safety,” court papers state, and she handed over the money from her drawer. The robber took the money and put it in a white plastic bag along with the note he’d handed the teller earlier, according to police.

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After the robbery, the teller told police that some of the money was wrapped in paper bank straps in thousand dollar increments. An audit determined that $10,730 was missing, according to the criminal complaint.

Police were on the lookout for a man matching the above description, with a stubbly beard and a moustache, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a brimmed black cap and sunglasses.

Just after an hour after the robbery, the teller notified Phoenixville police that she spotted a man on a blue bicycle matching the description. She was standing outside at the time, and saw the man riding east on Church Street. Police saw the blue bike parked outside a home in the unit block of Hall Street.

“A black male fitting the description was standing in the doorway wearing a white T-shirt and [he] had a stubbly beard,” according to the criminal complaint.

Police called for everyone to vacate the home, but a man in the basement wouldn’t comply with commands, according to police.

“From surveillance photographs of the bank robber, it was determined that the initial subject riding the bike was not the suspect, but the male subject from inside the residence was positively identified as the bank robber and placed under arrest,” the criminal complaint states.

The owner of the home on Hall Street gave officers written consent to search the house. Police reported finding a black hat, sunglasses and a white T-shirt in a white plastic bag.

A female in the home told police the man, identified as Edwards, came in the house with a white plastic bag. He was frantically stowing stuff behind the television and under the couch, the woman told police.

At approximately 11 p.m., a search warrant was executed at the Hall Street residence. Police recovered the black hat, sunglasses and white T-shirt.

“In the area the female stated Edwards was ‘hiding things,’ $10,724 U.S. currency was located,” the criminal complaint states.

While arresting Edwards, police also reported finding a necklace similar to the one worn by the robber, and they also located small amounts of substances that field tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.

Edwards was charged with felony counts of robbery, theft and receiving stolen property, in addition to misdemeanor drug charges. He was arraigned Saturday and is being held in Chester County Prison, unable to post $500,000 cash bail.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday. 


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