Credit Union Armed Robbery Probe Continues

By Andrew Gorosko

Three law enforcement agencies continued their joint probe this week into an armed robbery at a Sandy Hook credit union in which the robbers fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

State Police Lieutenant J. Paul Vance said November 21 that state police, as well as town police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are continuing their investigation.

In the incident on the morning of November 13, three men brandishing firearms entered the Western Connecticut Federal Credit Union, a private bank at 15 Berkshire Road (Route 34) in Sandy Hook, and threatened violence, demanding cash, after which they made off with an undisclosed amount of money. The robbers were armed with long-barreled firearms.

The nearby Newtown High School entered lockdown mode when school officials learned of the 10:30 am robbery.

State police have released a sequence of surveillance photos taken of the robbers in the credit union that they hope will aid investigators in solving the case.

Besides the cash stolen from the credit union, the robbers stole the purse of one of the bank’s employees. That purse was later found off Exit 17 of Interstate 84 in Middlebury, leading investigators to believe that the robbers fled eastward on the highway after the incident. The robbers are believed to have driven a late model Jeep Cherokee sport-utility vehicle.

Investigators ask anyone with information on the armed robbery to contact Detective Sergeant John Cole of the Newtown Police Department at 203-426-5841.

Credit union customers’ savings are insured against loss by the National Credit Union Administration, a federal agency.

Bank robberies are uncommon locally. The last local bank robbery occurred in April 2004 at 6 Queen Street at what was then a Fleet Bank branch office.