Dec 12, 2019 2 min read

It took state police less than three hours Sunday to capture the suspect in an armed robbery at a service station in Somerset Township.

Police found the man, Corey Merrill Baker, 32, partially slumped over the suspected getaway car shortly after 10 a.m. when it was parked outside of a gasoline station in Greene County, court records show.

Baker, who has addresses in Waynesburg and Houston Borough, is accused of stealing $133 from a clerk at a Sunoco station on Route 519 while armed with what appeared to be a small black hammer.

The clerk told police Baker’s face was partially covered and that he raised the hammer to his waist when he demanded money about 7:45 a.m.

Baker drove away in a silver-blue car with its license plate covered, police noted in the affidavit.

Police notified the state police barracks in Waynesburg of the crime and provided it with descriptions of the suspect and his car.

Another trooper at 10:14 a.m. found the car and suspect at an Exxon station on Route 21 a short distance west of Interstate 79, charging documents indicate.

Police later discovered in the car a white bag containing a white powdery substance and syringe loaded with a brown substance.

The hammer turned out to be a bar, part of a carjack assembly, in the car and it matched the description of the weapon used at the Somerset robbery. Surveillance video also recorded the robbery and the suspect, who was wearing the same clothing as Baker when he was apprehended, charging documents show.

Baker was taken to Greene County jail on warrants accusing him of failing to appear for nonpayment hearings in three separate cases.

District Judge Curtis Thompson arraigned Baker Wednesday on charges of robbery, theft and drug possession. Thompson set bail in the case at $25,000.