CRANBERRY TWP — A suspected would-be robber turned himself in to police early this morning — a day after he tried to hold up a dry cleaning business with a hypodermic needle.

Devan A. Ness, 25, of Cranberry Township apparently knew police had surveillance video that caught him at the scene of the crime Wednesday morning at Take It To The Cleaners on Freedom Road.

“He admitted he did it because of an opiate addiction,” Cranberry Township Police Sgt. Chuck Mascellino said today.

Ness surrendered at 12:30 a.m. today. District Judge Sue Haggerty later arraigned him on a charge of attempted robbery. He is in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.

Jim Fornicoia, owner of the business, said he was next door in a convenience store when the attempted robbery occurred.

Fornicoia said a young man came into the business, walked behind the counter with a hood pulled over his head and demanded money from a female worker.

The suspect allegedly had a syringe on him when he demanded money.

“(The female worker) asked if he was serious,” Fornicoia said. “She thought it was a kid who used to work here.”

The worker complied with the suspect’s demands, although he fled when she mentioned that Fornicoia would be back any minute from the convenience store.

The man fled the store empty-handed right when the owner was coming back in, and Fornicoia inadvertently held the door open for the young man thinking he was a customer.

The man then ran behind the building and disappeared from view.

Fornicoia said he sent the female worker home early, as she was shaken up after the incident.