Robert Demcher's career as a bank robber lasted exactly nine minutes.
That is how long it took for Scranton police Cpl. Richard Bachman to come upon the man now charged with the 9:20 a.m. robbery Wednesday at the Pennstar Bank branch on Meadow Avenue.
The 18-year veteran of the city Police Department noticed a man matching the description of the bank robber and took him into custody at Linden Street and Harrison Avenue at 9:29.
"You got me," the 51-year-old Olive Street man said as officers applied handcuffs. "I did it. I robbed the bank," police quoted him as saying.
Mr. Demcher did a little better as a convenience store robber -- his arrest Wednesday morning came more than 15 hours after police say he told a clerk at Turkey Hill on Mulberry Street that he had a gun and demanded money, as he would later confess.
Mr. Demcher -- whose hooded sweatshirt pocket was stuffed with an "extreme" amount of cash when Cpl. Bachman caught him -- told Detectives Michael Schultz and James Pappas that he committed the two robberies to support himself after struggling to find work in the past few months, according to a criminal complaint.
In the Turkey Hill robbery, police said Mr. Demcher told a clerk at the 1429 Mulberry St. store that he had a gun and demanded money. Once he had the cash he fled.
Then, first thing the next morning and without even changing his clothes, Mr. Demcher walked into the bank and handed the teller a note claiming he had a gun and demanding money.
Before 10 minutes had passed, Mr. Demcher was grimacing at the pinch of handcuffs and ducking his head as police escorted him to a prisoner transport van.
Mr. Demcher did not have a gun on him at the time of his arrest, nor did he have one during the robbery, police said.
He was charged with six counts of robbery and two each of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and simple assault.
Mr. Demcher was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Theodore J. Giglio and sent to the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $200,000 bail.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Copyright 2012 - The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
