Man faces charges in armed robbery
Three police agencies from Pennsylvania and West Virginia worked together to find and arrest a Center Township man accused of robbing a Blacksville convenience store at gunpoint last month.
Monongalia County sheriff’s deputies Thursday charged John A. Cooke Jr., 20, of 239 Edgar Road, with two counts of robbery and grand larceny in connection with the Nov. 2 holdup at the 7-Eleven store just over the state line on Route 7 in West Virginia.
Investigators in West Virginia said Cooke robbed a customer in the store’s parking lot before forcing that person to go inside at gunpoint. While inside, he robbed the store clerk and then pulled out a second gun, pointing guns at both the cashier and customer.
Cooke left the scene in the customer’s SUV, deputies said, but he crashed into a tree on Crossroads Road several miles south of Blacksville. Cooke was gone when investigators found the damaged vehicle.
Cooke was arrested by Waynesburg police Nov. 18 on a probation violation, and was found with a gun that was used in the store robbery, Waynesburg police Chief Rob Toth said. Waynesburg police also charged him with an Oct. 26 retail theft at Sunoco in the borough, along with a theft from a car parked at the Family Dollar on Richhill Street. Toth said Cooke stole $700 worth of items from the vehicle, including a jacket he wore while allegedly robbing the convenience store the following week.
“We had suspicions there could be more to it,” Toth said.
Waynesburg police shared information with Pennsylvania trooper William Brown, who was working closely with the Monongalia County deputies on the store robbery. Toth said authorities in West Virginia were able to use the information borough police provided to charge Cooke in connection with the store robbery.
“It was a nice joint effort how we relayed information to (state police) and they relayed it to (Monongalia County deputies),” Toth said.
Cooke is being held at Greene County jail awaiting extradition to West Virginia.
Investigators do not think Cooke was involved in another armed robbery at the Blacksville convenience store Oct. 6.