FRACKVILLE - State police are investigating a robbery that occurred after 3 p.m. Thursday at National Penn Bank at the Schuylkill Mall.
Police said a man, wearing a gray hoodie, gray sneakers and blue jeans, entered the bank and demanded money before fleeing.
Cpl. Leo Luciani of the Frackville station said the robber did not display a handgun but made several movements that he may have had something in his pocket.
The man fled the scene and a subsequent investigation determined the robbery was not the only crime the man committed.
Luciani said the man allegedly stole a car from the parking lot of Turkey Hill Minit Mart in Frackville minutes before the bank robbery, and the subsequent chain of events is still being investigated.
Luciani said the man either went to the bank before or after trying to rob an ATM machine at the Wells Fargo Bank branch on Altamont Boulevard.
Then, after robbing the Schuylkill Mall bank, the man drove a silver Chrysler Cirrus back to Frackville, parked it on Frack Street and fled.
Police said they do not know if the man had another vehicle waiting in the area or fled on foot.
No other information on the robbery is available and the investigation is continuing.
The robbery resulted in a massive search that included a state police helicopter, troopers from both the Schuylkill Haven and Frackville stations, Schuylkill County Sheriff's deputies and municipal officers from Port Carbon, Minersville, Cass Township, Schuylkill Haven, Frackville, Butler Township, Ashland, Mahanoy City, the Schuylkill County Domestic Relations Office and the Schuylkill County Drug Task Force.
Luciani said Frackville police are conducting the investigation into the stolen car from Turkey Hill and that state police are handling the subsequent attempted ATM robbery and robbery at the Schuylkill Mall bank.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call police at 570-874-5300 or information about the stolen vehicle to call Frackville police at 570-462-1991.