Bridgeport, NY -- U.S. Marshals captured a suspect accused of robbing four banks in Western New York Thursday afternoon while he was riding in a car on Route 31 in Bridgeport. Marshals arrested Timothy J. Ernle, 48, on two warrants for violating his state parole. Ernle is the prime suspect in four bank robberies that occurred in July and...
Timothy J. ErnleBridgeport, NY -- U.S. Marshals captured a suspect accused of robbing four banks in Western New York Thursday afternoon while he was riding in a car on Route 31 in Bridgeport.
Marshals arrested Timothy J. Ernle, 48, on two warrants for violating his state parole.
Ernle is the prime suspect in four bank robberies that occurred in July and August in Kenmore, Hamburg and Niagara Falls, said Joseph B. Ciciarelli, speaking this morning for the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force in Syracuse.
In the Niagara Falls robbery, a suspect wearing dark clothes and a stocking mask jumped over the counter, pushed several tellers out of the way, and grabbed several bundles of money. He then jumped back over the counter and ran from the bank.
The suspect claimed to have a weapon, but none was displayed.
Ernle is not from the Bridgeport area, Ciciarelli said. However, while serving a sentence in state prison for various robberies, including bank robbery, Ernle met David Welch, 34, who is from the Bridgeport area, he said.
“We took a chance that he (Ernle) might be out here also,” Ciciarelli said.
Ernle was a passenger in the vehicle Welch was driving on Route 31 near Lucas Road when the task force took them into custody at about 1 p.m., he said.
Ernle is being held in the Erie County Jail.
Welch was charged with violating his state parole. He is in the Madison County Jail.
The New York State Police and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department helped the U.S. Marshals Task force with the investigation.
The Task Force is made up of the Marshals, state police, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department, New York State Parole and the Syracuse Police Department.