Credit: Bucks County Department of Corrections
Three men are under arrest in connection area armed robberies.
The three men were arrested Friday by local police.
- John Ferraro, 25, of Bristol Township
- Bruce Epp, 24, of Levittown
- Jesse Smoot, 26, of Middletown
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The trio is charged in both Bucks and Montgomery counties with robbery, theft and receiving stolen property. Smoot also faces additional charges of terroristic threats, simple assault, possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and harassment.
The group’s spree began to fall apart when police in Horsham caught up with Epp after he robbed a Subway in the township, according to PhillyBurbs.com.
According to court documents, Ferraro is charged in the early January robbery of the Subway on Oxford Valley Road in Bristol Township. When police spoke with the 25-year-old, he admitted he drove Smoot, who paid him for driving, to the restaurant and acted as a lookout and getaway driver across the street while his accomplice robbed the store.
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Smoot confessed to the January Subway robbery, police said. He told investigators he used his semi-automatic handgun to hold up the store because he needed money to stop from being evicted, court documents report.
PhillyBurbs.com reported Smoot is also a suspect in the December robbery of the Mail-N-More Store in Lower Makefield.
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The suspect in the Lower Makefield robbery pointed a gun at employees and demanded money, an article on BucksLocalNews.com said.
When Smoot was taken into custody Friday at his Middletown apartment, members of the local SERT team, also known as SWAT, assisted, Lt. John Michniewicz said.
“SERT was called because it was reported that he had firearms,” Michniewicz added.
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Epp was arrested by Montgomery County authorities and is in that county’s jail on $50,000 bail.
Ferraro is in Bucks County prison on 10 percent of $250,000 bail, while Smoot sits in county jail on 10 percent of $100,000 bail.
