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Task force captures suspected Squirrel Hill bank robber
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When a man suspected in four Squirrel Hill bank robberies was arrested this morning, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force found dye-stained currency in his pocket.
Michael Baughman, chief deputy marshal for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said today that the money was believed to be associated with one of the robberies on Murray Avenue with which Joseph F. Guiney Jr. has been charged.
The task force arrested Mr. Guiney, 34, of Greenfield, around 10 a.m. at a home in the 1000 block of Milltown Road in Penn Hills.
Pittsburgh police Lt. Kevin Kraus said the residence belonged to a woman who might be Mr. Guiney's girlfriend or "associate." She is being questioned, and it is unclear if she was an accomplice in any of the robberies, which stretch back to March.
Lt. Kraus declined to identify the woman or the exact location where the arrest occurred. Police today are executing a search warrant for the house.
"We do expect to seize some items we believe will be evidentiary," Lt. Kraus said during a news conference.
Mr. Guiney, who was described by police as armed and dangerous after a gun was shown during the most recent robbery, is charged with robbing First National Bank on March 27, First Niagara Bank on Oct. 31, and the same Citizens Bank branch on Nov. 9 and this past Saturday.
Investigators first identified Mr. Guiney after the Halloween robbery with the help of anonymous tips and the use of photo arrays shown to witnesses.
The fugitive task force Monday night began developing information on Mr. Guiney's whereabouts and were aided by tips, Lt. Kraus said.
Police are unsure why Murray Avenue was targeted during the string of robberies. Lt. Kraus said investigators "believe a drug addiction is what led him to commit our four bank robberies."
Asked about the long gap between bank robberies in March and October that police have attributed to Mr. Guiney, Lt. Kraus said investigators think he left Pittsburgh and are trying to determine where he was and whether any banks in those areas were robbed.
Police said Mr. Guiney eluded their surveillance Saturday when he robbed the Citizens Bank in the 1800 block of Murray Avenue. Detectives were in another section of the neighborhood when the robbery occurred.
Lt. Kraus said he believed the "roving surveillance detail" was "adequate."
"I felt it was just a case of good fortune, I guess, on behalf of Mr. Guiney," Lt. Kraus said. "I think it was just good luck on his side."
First Published November 20, 2012 12:31 am
