Saturday, January 7, 2006

Pantego, Pennsylvania

From the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader of January 6, 2006
93-year-old scares off two robbers

Two would-be robbers figured 93-year-old Edward Cosgrove for an easy mark, but they ended up making his day.

The men fled after one scuffled with Cosgrove in the parking lot of a Pantego store last week and became convinced that Cosgrove was reaching for a gun.

One suspect, Damaris Lavar Trass, 22, of Arlington, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery shortly after the Dec. 30 incident. The other remains at large.

Late Friday, Pantego police issued an arrest warrant for Willis Steve Demry, 28, who was living in Arlington but is from Minnesota, Capt. Sandra Blackney said.

Cosgrove said he was targeted when one of the men saw him use a $100 bill for a $12 purchase at Pantego Save-A-Lot grocery store, 2400 W. Pioneer Parkway. When he opened his truck door, a man accosted him.

“I looked up and a guy charged me and knocked me down on my back, and he reached around to grab my wallet,” said Cosgrove, who lives with his wife, Olga, 95, in Arlington, just outside Pantego.

While struggling to keep his wallet in his pocket, Cosgrove reached into his pickup and said he was going for his gun.

“I said, ‘If I can reach my pistol, I’m going to kill you,’ ” Cosgrove said. The man bolted for a nearby car, and the two fled.

Cosgrove didn’t have a gun.

“I was scared,” he said. “All I know is I had to do something. So it came to my mind about a pistol.”

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