The Abington Police Department has announced the arrest of serial robber, Richard Lawrence of Philadelphia, for five related robberies in the area. Lawrence was already in custody for the most recent robbery, April 12th, at the TD Bank on 2431 Cheltenham Ave. in Cheltenham Township.
Beginning in March of 2022, a series of robberies took place at commercial businesses in Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County: Rite Aid located at 8001 Roosevelt Blvd in Philadelphia, Walgreen’s located at 7001 Frankford Ave. in Philadelphia, CVS located at 890 Welsh Rd. in Horsham, and Rite Aid located at 1321 Easton Rd. in Township. All the robberies were done by the same suspect, who would threaten employees with a weapon or imply he had one and then demand money from the safe.
Then, on April 2nd, a man wearing Muslim garb and his face concealed, robbed the TD Bank at 2900 Moreland Road in Willow Grove. The suspect fled through Cheltenham Township back to Philadelphia and it was in Cheltenham where police were able to the get the license plate of the getaway car. The car was registered to Richard Lawrence of the 2300 block of 79th Avenue in Philadelphia. The vehicle was found shortly afterward, abandoned, in Philadelphia. Two days later, Richard Lawrence reported the car stolen to the Philadelphia Police Department.
After noticing the similarities in the robberies, detectives began to piece together a case against Lawrence and were about to obtain a warrant for his arrest when he robbed another TD Bank in Cheltenham Township. Police caught Lawrence this time, and after he was charged by Cheltenham Police, Abington Detectives began coordinating with Philadelphia and Montgomery County prosecutors to prepare charges for all the other robberies.
On April 19th, Lawrence was charged with five counts of robbery and related offenses. Bail was set at $10,000 and he was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, where he was already being held for the last Cheltenham robbery.