Prison for man who robbed York-area bank, smoke store

A Pittsburgh-area man who robbed a bank the day after Christmas and robbed a smoking store while wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bandanna has been sentenced to at least four years in state prison.

Eric Joseph Carrier, 36, of Charleroi, Washington County, pleaded guilty June 21 in York County Court to robbery and bank robbery, court records state.

He robbed the Members 1st Federal Credit Union at 2420 Mount Rose Ave. in Springettsbury Township just before 3 p.m. Dec. 26, 2017, according to court documents.

Carrier walked into the credit union wearing a black ski mask and with the hood of his sweatshirt up, police said.

When he got to the counter, the teller asked him to remove his ski mask, which he did, but he declined to take down his hood when she asked, documents state.

He told her, "Give me all of it," then instructed the teller to open her cash drawer, according to Springettsbury Township Detective Raymond Craul.

She handed him several hundred dollars, but he demanded more. After getting it, Carrier shoved the $3,490 cash into the pocket of his sweatshirt and left on foot, documents state.

In March, after being identified as the bank robber, Carrier told Craul he had relapsed on drugs and needed the money to support his habit, court documents state.

Ninja turtle: Two weeks later, on Jan. 9, 2018, Carrier robbed the Smoker's Outlet at 1100 Mount Rose Ave. in Spring Garden Township.

That's a little more than a mile away from the credit union.

Spring Garden Township Police said Carrier walked into the smoking shop about 5:35 p.m. wearing an Army jacket and, over his face, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bandanna.

He told employees three times that he had a gun and made off with $360 cash, two packs of menthol L&M cigarettes and two packets of Top RYO pouches of tobacco, according to court documents.

But he didn't get far.

Made it half a mile: Officers Justin Woods and Jake Clevenger were in the area and heard the 911 radio dispatch about the robbery.

They spotted someone matching the robber's description in the 900 block of Norway Street and detained the man, who turned out to be Carrier — and he was wearing a Ninja Turtles bandanna around his neck, court documents state.

That's about a half a mile from Smoker's Outlet.

Court documents indicate that Carrier was living somewhere in the area of where he committed the robberies but don't state where.

He at one time was living on Meadow Avenue in Charleroi, Washington County.

Carrier's defense attorney, public defender Josh Neiderhiser, could not be reached for comment.

— Reach Liz Evans Scolforo at levans@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @LizScolforoYD.