Bandit armed with barbecue fork, large knife robs Pa. stores

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Police say a man looking for cash to replenish his crack supply threatened store clerks with a sharpened barbecue fork and a large kitchen knife during a string of robberies in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Timothy Burns was charged Monday with robbery, resisting arrest, and aggravated assault on a police officer in connection with a pair of heists in Wilkes-Barre.

The Citizens’ Voice reports the 31-year-old is also a suspect in three other robberies.

Burns is jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail pending a June 25 preliminary hearing. Online court records did not list a lawyer to comment on the charges.

One of the clerks says the man banged a barbecue fork on the counter, lunged at him and demanded money. The clerk says the man bragged he’d never be caught.