City police credited in bank robbery suspect arrest
The Butler City Police Department is credited with spotting and arresting an Oakland Township man accused of robbing two banks in the county last week.
Alexander J. Welter, 22, was wanted by state police in connection with a July 16 robbery at the Citizens Bank in the Giant Eagle at Clearview Mall in Center Township.
Two days after they obtained an arrest warrant and announced that he was a suspect in that robbery, he struck again, police say.
According to the criminal complaint filed Monday, at 4:29 p.m. Wednesday he entered the First National Bank on Route 422 in Franklin Township and slid a note to a teller.
The note read: “this is a robbery I want $3,000 no bait money,” according to the complaint. The teller gave him $4,000 in cash, mistakenly thinking it was $3,000, and he fled the scene on foot going west on Route 488. A panic alarm at the bank was triggered at 4:33 p.m. and police units around the county were advised to be on the lookout for a man matching his description.
Unlike the robbery at Citizens Bank, the suspect was not wearing a motorcycle helmet.
Early Thursday morning Butler police notified state police that Welter had been spotted by video surveillance getting in a Chevrolet pickup truck in the area of Broad Street Apartments.
Butler police were later able to find him and place him under arrest at the apartment building while investigating suspicious activity in the area. He allegedly had heroin baggies on his person at the time of his arrest.
He was interviewed at the state police barracks and admitted to robbing the First National Bank, according to the complaint.
Welter was charged and arraigned Monday by District Judge William O'Donnell on felony counts of robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and terroristic threats, and misdemeanor counts of simple assault, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is in Butler County Prison on $250,000 bail.
He is also facing felony charges for allegedly robbing the Citizens Bank and a felony theft charge for allegedly stealing a friend's GMC pickup truck. He is scheduled for preliminary hearings in Chicora on Aug. 1 and in Slippery Rock on Aug. 2.
