Single mom who lost job jailed in bomb threat bank heist

BELLEVUE, Pa. (AP) — A single mother who told police she recently lost her job has been jailed on charges she tried to rob $40,000 from a Pennsylvania bank by claiming to have a bomb in her car at a drive-thru window.

Brandy Greulich, 33, of Pittsburgh, remained jailed today on charges stemming from the robbery attempt a day earlier at a PNC Bank branch in Bellevue.

Greulich pulled up and handed the teller a note claiming she had a bomb in her car, according to a criminal complaint filed by Bellevue police.

The note said “they were being watched and that there were bombs in the car and throughout the bank and at the homes of the employees and if they got caught they would all die,” the complaint said.

The teller hit an alarm, summoning police. Greulich, at first, continued to tell police that she was forced to rob the bank by unidentified bad guys, saying, “They said they would kill me and my son if I didn’t” rob the bank, the complaint said.

Eventually, Greulich acknowledged making up the whole thing, police said.

“She admitted that there was no bomb in the car, that that part of the note was a hoax,” said Bellevue Sgt. Matthew Lucas. “My understanding is that she’s just on tough times right now, lost a job recently, a single mom.”

Still, the report prompted police to call out the Allegheny County bomb squad and to evacuate the bank and several nearby businesses as well as nearby Bellevue Elementary School.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Greulich, who faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 5 on charges including robbery, reckless endangerment and threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. She was also charged with possessing a marijuana pipe and a fake Ohio license plate on her vehicle.

She told reporters only, “I’m sorry” as she was led handcuffed to a police cruiser Tuesday night.