Alleged Amish Buggy Robber Arrested

Good news in the recent Amish buggy robbery story – a suspect has been captured in northwestern Pennsylvania. Reported Friday by WFMJ:

A West Middlesex man is being held in the Mercer County Jail following his arrest for an armed robbery and an attempted robbery of men driving horse-drawn buggies in Amish country.

Todd Baker, 33, appeared before a district magistrate on Friday to answer charges of robbery and attempted robbery filed by Pennsylvania State Police.

Baker was arrested Wednesday, six days after an armed robbery on Number 8 Road in Lackawannock Township on Thursday evening last week.

As in a similar story of buggy robbery in Ohio one year ago, a suspect has been quickly identified and arrested in this case.

As in that case, this probably wasn’t that well thought-through by the alleged robber.

I’m not sure if would-be criminals aren’t under the illusion that Amish don’t get police involved.

There is a bit of truth to that – but really more of a myth or big misconception. The Amish generally do contact authorities when they are victims of crimes, especially serious ones.

If you stick up an Amish buggy, the person is going to in all likelihood soon contact authorities and provide them with a description of you and your vehicle.

And when you do a robbery locally (the suspect is described as being from West Middlesex, which is roughly 8 to 12 miles from the scenes of the two robbery attempts), using in all likelihood your own car, or another local vehicle, odds are you’re going to be soon found.

Just another reason it’s not the best idea for opportunistic criminals to target the Amish. They’re not as easy a target as such folks might think.

A Second Person Was Involved

According to the report, “court records don’t show if anyone else has been charged in connection with the crimes.” Reading between the lines of that sentence, perhaps there was someone else involved…and indeed, checking the latest reporting, there was apparently a driver:

Police later identified the suspect as Todd Baker, 33. A replica black airsoft gun was found in Baker’s car, according to the criminal complaint.

In an interview with police, a man who said he was the driver during the robbery identified Baker as the suspect who pointed the gun at the driver of the buggy. He said Baker was a passenger in his vehicle at the time.

The witness said there was about $90 in the wallet, and they used it to buy drugs.

Charges have not been filed against the man identified in the complaint as the driver.

Did Baker decide to do a robbery on the spur of the moment, drawing the (unwilling?) driver into the plot?

The fact that the driver was the one who ID’ed Baker, and that he is not facing charges, suggests that is perhaps the case. Or, maybe charges are still coming.

Baker faces felony counts of robbery and attempted robbery, and has a court hearing scheduled for April 17.

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