Montco man sentenced 25 years after armed bank robbery, pulling gun on Pa. state trooper

PERKASIE, Pennsyvlania (WPVI) — A Montgomery County man has been sentenced to 25 years and someday in jail for robbing a financial institution at gunpoint after which trying to homicide a Pennsylvania state trooper, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated Thursday.

Christopher Larue, 44, of Lansdale was additionally sentenced Wednesday to 5 years of supervised launch and ordered to pay a $7,500 high quality.

“This sentencing is particularly poignant throughout every week when we’ve misplaced two Pennsylvania State Troopers who have been bravely executing their responsibility within the face of maximum hazard,” stated U.S. Lawyer Jennifer Arbittier Williams.

In line with courtroom paperwork, within the early morning hours of Monday, October 19, 2020, Larue entered a QNB Financial institution in Perkasie, carrying darkish clothes and a black masks as workers have been arriving for work.

Larue displayed a firearm.

Authorities stated he took two money drawers from a protected, robbing the financial institution of over $11,000.

Earlier than leaving, he demanded cellphones from the workers and prospects, after which pressured them right into a vault.

The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated a GPS monitoring gadget hidden with the stolen cash shortly led Pennsylvania State Police to Larue, who had pushed to his job web site on the 400 block of Schuylkill River Highway in Conshohocken.

When state police arrived and tried to arrest Larue, authorities stated he pointed a gun on the head of a trooper and pulled the set off again and again, however the gun misfired and troopers have been capable of handcuff Larue.

“Christopher Larue aimed a loaded gun at a state trooper’s head, requested him if he wished to die that day, and repeatedly pulled the set off. It was very practically a tragedy, however fortunately the weapon did not fireplace,” stated Jacqueline Maguire, Particular Agent in Cost of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.

Man charged with tried homicide after pulling gun on Pennsylvania State Trooper

In and round Larue’s work locker, investigators stated they discovered the stolen cash, extra ammunition and the clothes and masks worn in the course of the theft.

“This can be a shining, but horrible, instance of the chance that our cops willingly place themselves in to guard us daily,” Bucks County District Lawyer Matt Weintraub stated on the time.

In October 2021, Larue pleaded responsible to 1 rely of brandishing a firearm throughout against the law of violence and one rely of armed financial institution theft.

“On this case, the defendant acted with full disregard and callousness for the lives of the Pennsylvania State Troopers and the financial institution workers whom he threatened with a firearm. However for a misfired gun, the end result may have been yet one more tragic lack of life. The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace is not going to tolerate this type of violent lawlessness,” Williams stated.

Larue beforehand served over 12 years in federal jail after being convicted in 2009 of 5 extra financial institution robberies and was on supervised launch on the time of this crime, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated.