Wawa Wobbers Nailed by Efforts of Citizen

 

To the Editor;

On Monday Night I was sitting in my truck at the Sheetz located at Chancellor’s Run  & Rt. 235 having a cup of coffee. On the scanner I keep in my truck I heard the police being dispatched for a robbery at the WaWa at 235 & St. Andrew’s Church Rd. They had a witness who reported the vehicle as being a Red Chevy Beretta with the first three on the plate being CAB (or something to that effect). I happened to just pull out of Sheetz and noticed a vehicle similar to this had just turned off 235 on to Chancellor’s Run so I made a U-turn and followed. In the meantime, several other vehicles had gotten between the red car and me.

 

By the time we got down to Pegg’s Rd, a couple of the vehicles turned off on Pegg’s and some went straight. So I had to make a choice as I was unsure which vehicle turned where as it was dark. I chose to take the turn on to Pegg’s Rd. As luck would have it, the red car was making the right to turn into the Great Mills Wa-Wa.

 

Unfortunately I was looking at a Red Buick Sentry, not the Red Chevy Berretta as put out by our Police Dispatchers per the witness. But since the first three characters on the tag were the same I chose to follow it anyway. So as soon as I turned off Pegg’s Rd into the Wa-Wa, the police Dispatcher got back on the Radio and corrected the vehicle description and now it was a Red Buick Sentry and “all” the characters on the plates matched the one I was following.

 

The vehicle pulled into the Great Mills WaWa and I got on the Cell phone to the Dispatcher and told them I had their suspect vehicle sighted at the Great Mills WaWa. She had me confirm the description and plates and all came back as their vehicle. She put me on hold and asked if I could watch the vehicle. Of course I could if it might help nab these guys with the evidence in hand. One of the 2 guys went into the WaWa. I was scared they were going to rob this one as well! But, fortunately they did not and the folks inside were oblivious as to what was going on. After buying whatever it was they decided to buy this time, probably with their new stolen money from the other WaWa, they got back in their car to leave. They exited the WaWa onto Pegg’s road again and headed toward 235 again. They were traveling at a pretty good speed so I could not safely follow at the same speed but I kept them in sight as long as possible. The problem was that 2 other vehicles had gotten between them and me again and I was yet again unsure as to which vehicle turned where. One of the 3 turned off onto Forest Run and the other 2 proceeded straight. I advised the dispatcher of this and basically said that I was unsure where the car was but I was following the first 2 cars.

 

The next thing I know there were police cars with lights on in front of me and behind. I got the heck off the road and outta the way. Our Local police were on it. By the time I rounded the last curve on Pegg’s Rd, They had the suspects pulled over at the Shell station and already had them at gunpoint, on their knees with their hand behind their heads.

 

I pulled in and waited till the scene was secure and approached one of the offices and commented that a scanner sure comes in handy sometimes. He agreed and offered me a firm hand shake and a Thank You.

 

I hope that the officers we able to nab these guys with the evidence still in the car. I am sure if much more time had passed it would have been stashed somewhere and the officers would not have a good case. Thankfully I was able to sight them soon after the incident so hopefully they did not have time to get rid of anything.

 

I am not one of those folks who listens to the scanner and jumps up and runs to a scene just to see lights and action. But I do keep a pad and pencil handy in my truck and will note a Vehicle Description and/or tag number when I hear it called off on the Police Channels. One more set of eyes & ears on the streets to aide our local Law Enforcements Professionals sure can’t hurt. In this instance it paid off, and I was more than happy to be able to help out in my own small way.