By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN – Edwin McPeak, a 39-year-old Olean man accused of carjacking and two bank robberies last Thursday morning remains in custody in the McKean County Jail.
Capt. Robert Blovsky, who heads the Olean Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit, said Friday that Olean investigators had not yet spoken to McPeak. “We’re still working on it,” said Blovsky. City police searched McPeak’s Irving Street home. There was no word on what, if anything was seized from the home.
Blovsky and one other source said McPeak had spoken of needing money to pay his property taxes to keep from losing his home at 515 Irving Street, Olean in the Cattaraugus County Real Property Tax Auction.
McPeak had until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, to make payment to the Cattaraugus County Treasurer to keep from losing his home. County Treasurer Matt Keller noted that McPeak owed $6,690 in back taxes. His home sold at auction for $23,290 to a user named Coleslaw69.
Edwin J. McPeak Jr., of Irving Street, Olean, is accused of taking a City of Olean Parks Department truck from two city employees at gunpoint in Franchot Park shortly after 9 a.m. He took the truck keys and neither man was injured, according to Capt. Robert Blovsky. They notified the Olean Police Department as soon as the man left.
Moments after arriving at Franchot Park, Blovsky said a police radio call reported a robbery at the Portville branch of High Point Federal Credit Union on Route 417. The city workers said the suspect was masked.
Blovsky headed to Portville, convinced that the bank robbery — so soon after the Franchot Park incident — wasn’t a coincidence.
It wasn’t long afterward that a Pennsylvania State Police radio broadcast the description of a green pickup that was involved in an armed robbery at the Hamlin Bank branch in Eldred, where he allegedly stole nearly $20,000.
Following a high-speed chase by Smethport Police, the City Parks and Recreation truck driven by McPeak crashed outside 1337 Kendall Avenue in Foster Township and McPeak was taken into custody.
After being taken to Bradford Regional Medical Center for treatment of his injuries in the crash, McPeak was arraigned in District Court and was ordered held on $1 million bail.
