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Investigators allege a masked Samuel Lee Martin, 36, walked into Susquehanna Bank, 100 W. Main St., Terre Hill, at 11:45 a.m., reached over the counter, waved a black pistol and demanded that bank tellers fill his black bag with cash, including coins.
Before fleeing, the alleged robber warned bank employees that he would detonate explosives outside the bank if anyone called the police, according to court records.
At 1 p.m., after a series of events that police said included an attempt by the suspect to evade capture by wading across a creek, a soggy Martin was in the custody of East Earl Township police, along with an undisclosed amount of waterlogged money taken from the bank.
Police said several Terre Hill residents saw the alleged robber exit the bank and flee in a 1994 Oldsmobile.
Within minutes, officers from several area police departments, including East Earl, New Holland Borough and West Cocalico Township, as well as a Lancaster city K-9 unit and a state police helicopter crew, were searching the area around Terre Hill.
The event triggered two area schools — Brecknock Elementary and Muddy Creek Christian School — to initiate lockdown procedures. Two others — Garden Spot High School and Blue Ball Elementary — were put on alert.
Witnesses told police that the alleged getaway vehicle, which had Indiana plates, blew out two tires when it bounced off curbs at the corner of Center and Linden avenues, one block east of the bank.
Two construction workers, brothers from Terre Hill, who were eating lunch in a truck on Linden Avenue, noticed Martin's erratic driving — and flat tires — and decided to follow him, police said.The men, who asked not to be identified, said they followed the vehicle as it veered north on Route 897. They said they were still in pursuit as it turned left onto Fivepointville Road and left again onto Beam Road, which ends at Muddy Creek in Brecknock Township.
The brothers said they watched as Martin exited the car.
"We told him to hit the ground," one of the men said Wednesday.
Martin, they said, ran away from them, into the creek. At that point they broke off their pursuit and called the police.
"He ran into the creek, and we called 911," one of the brothers said. "We told the dispatcher about the Indiana tags, and they told us not to touch anything."
The men said they approached the abandoned car and only then noticed cash spread out on its front seat.
East Cocalico police Officer Robert Good said he intercepted Martin on the other side of the creek, near Valley Proteins, where the officer had gone to warn employees about a fugitive gunman in the area.
Police said Martin lives at 135 Grant Ave., Ephrata, but has family in Indiana, where he visited as recently as Monday.
(460) (323) (186) (180) (55) (45) (37) (31) (28) (21) (16) (11) (10) (5) (5) (4) (2) (2) (2) (2)Investigators said they believe Martin, whose 6-foot-9-inch frame matches bank surveillance photos of the masked gunman, may be linked to three other robberies in Lancaster County, as well as others in West Virginia, Ohio and York County, according to court documents.
According to a police report, Martin was arrested by East Earl officer Daniel Nipper and charged with robbery, receiving stolen property and a threat to use weapons of mass destruction.
Martin was arraigned before District Judge Rodney H. Hartman and committed to county prison in lieu of $400,000 bail.
East Earl police Chief Kevin McCarthy said he was pleased by the quick and abundant response by the other police departments that assisted in the arrest.
"In a small area like this there's no way we would be able to pull this off without added police resources," McCarthy said.
He also praised Terre Hill residents for their help in capturing and identifying Martin.
"You hear about detached and uninvolved Americans; people in Terre Hill are attached and involved," McCarthy said.
Police said the stolen money was recovered, most of it from Martin's wet clothing.
Fivepointville and Terre Hill fire companies assisted in a search of the wooded area where Martin allegedly abandoned the Oldsmobile. McCarthy said the search party found the gun and black bag allegedly used in the robbery. Police said the gun was a CO2 pellet pistol.
When Eastern Lancaster County School District Superintendent Robert Hollister heard that a gunman was in the area, he said, he immediately deployed a district security guard to the Brecknock school. He said he also implemented security procedures adopted after the deadly attack at the West Nickel Mines Amish schoolhouse two years ago.
Students in the district took home letters Tuesday explaining the the reason for the lockdown at Brecknock Elementary and the warnings at Garden Spot High School and Blue Ball Elementary, Hollister said.
"The letters are a way of quelling rumors," he said. "We have a lot of (security) plans that are ready to go that, fortunately, we didn't need to put in place."
E-mail: pburns@lnpnews.com
