Feb 4, 2016 2 min read

A Pennsylvania man accused in a spree of pharmacy robberies in two states, including two at Gabler’s Drug store in Carmichaels last month, was arrested Wednesday night in West Virginia.

Joshua Cain Abel, 29, of Everson, who is facing charges in at least seven robberies in January, was stopped by West Virginia State Police along Interstate 68 near Morgantown about 6 p.m. when troopers there received a tip he was driving in the area.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper William Brown, who investigated the first robbery at Gabler’s, interviewed Abel shortly after his arrest Wednesday night and said he confessed to that heist and an attempted robbery at the Carmichaels drug store nine days later.

A man wearing a large flannel jacket with the hood wrapped around his face walked into the drug store at 106 S. Market St. about 3 p.m. Jan. 16 and passed a note to the pharmacist claiming he had a gun. He left with multiple pill bottles filled with Oxycodone, Brown said.

The same man returned Jan. 25 and began to pull out a note when the pharmacist pushed an alarm, scaring him away.

Similar robberies were reported at drug stores in Uniontown, Hopwood and Scottdale in January. Brown said police in West Virginia are also investigating pharmacy robberies in Fairmont and Sutton during that time.

“We think he’s the same one,” Brown said.

Brown said he is preparing to file charges against Abel for the two Carmichaels robberies. Abel already faces charges for the Jan. 11 robbery in Scottdale and Jan. 25 heist in Hopwood.

Abel is being held without bond at the North Central Regional Jail in West Virginia.