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Police Find Bank Robber Hiding In Sewer Pipeline

MONROEVILLE (KDKA) -- Police say a local man robbed a bank, claiming he had a bomb, but it's how he tried to hide from officers that really surprised them.

Forty-seven-year-old Gregory Magee, of Pittsburgh, was arrested late Tuesday after police said he held up the S&T Bank on Broadway Boulevard in Monroeville.

A short time earlier, he had allegedly walked into the bank with his face covered, carrying a maroon bag. Once inside, he said, "I have a bomb."

When nobody acknowledged him, he raised his voice much louder and said, "Excuse me, I have a bomb."

After ordering bank tellers to put money in some garbage bags he had with him, he summoned the bank manager and demanded more money from the vault. A teller went into the vault, and she handed him the bag with cash. He complained that it didn't feel like enough.

As the teller re-entered the vault to get more money, according to court papers, Magee said, "Hurry up. Get the money, or I'm going to blow everyone up."

According to witnesses, Magee said he was desperate. He started counting backwards from 10 until the teller took more money from the vault and handed it to him.

With officers in hot pursuit, the suspect left some of his clothes by a storage shed, and the 150-lbs., 5-foot-7-inch McGee crawled into a sewer pipeline.

When police found him, they helped get him out of the sewerline. He was carrying a maroon bag filled with the stolen cash, and more money was found inside the pipe. He later told police he had some medical issues and needed the money to survive.

Police said a total of $78,643 was stolen.

No one was hurt in the stickup.

Magee was jailed for robbery charges and multiple counts of making terroristic threats.

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