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First Posted: 6/26/2014
Alleged bank robbers Christopher Prince and his girlfriend, Diana Poole, made good on paying $300 in unpaid rent before fleeing the area on June 11, when Edwardsville police said Community Bank was held up.
Arrest papers say Prince, 27, of Downington, and Poole, 36, of Parkesburg, both in Chester County, had leased a room in an apartment on Main Street, Edwardsville, for about three weeks before they allegedly robbed the bank in the West Side Mall Plaza.
Natalie Diaz told police she allowed Prince and Poole to stay in a room in her apartment in exchange for money to help pay the rent, according to charges filed.
Diaz claimed Prince and Poole had trouble giving her money. She told police she received a phone call from Prince at about 5 p.m. on June 11, saying he had money for rent. When Diaz arrived home, she noticed Prince left $300 and Prince and Poole had left taking all their belongings, police said.
Diaz sent a text to Prince asking why they left at which Prince replied, “They had to go,” according to the criminal complaint.
Diaz recognized Prince and Poole as the alleged robbers on a video shown to her by other people on a bus while going to work, police said.
Prince and Poole were arraigned on two counts of robbery and one count each of criminal attempt to commit robbery and theft. They were jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $50,000 bail.
Arrest warrants were issued for the pair on June 18.
Police said Prince and Poole were recorded by surveillance cameras loitering inside and outside a McDonald’s restaurant for about 20 minutes before the robbery. The restaurant and bank are next to each other on Wyoming Avenue.
Police allege Poole entered the bank and passed a note to a teller that stated, “Give me all the money in the drawer. Don’t (expletive) around, no die packs, no alarms and no yelling. I have a gun in my purse,” the complaint says.
Poole kept her hand in the purse saying to the teller, “Do as I tell you, and no one will get hurt,” according to the complaint.
Prince and Poole fled the bank and were able to elude capture by running in woods behind Lowe’s in the shopping plaza.
Court papers in Chester County state an arrest warrant was issued for Prince on June 12, charging him with violating probation on a theft conviction, and an arrest warrant was issued for Poole on May 7 charging her with violating probation on a burglary conviction.