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Rest Stop Robbery Prompts Calls For More Security

INTERSTATE 81 — State police are investigating a robbery during which a truck driver passing through our area was held at gunpoint along the interstate. T...

INTERSTATE 81 -- State police are investigating a robbery during which a truck driver passing through our area was held at gunpoint along the interstate.

The incident is now making travelers wonder if there is enough security at rest stops.

The robbery happened late Tuesday night at an Interstate 81 rest stop north of Clarks Summit in Lackawanna County.

Newswatch 16 talked to truck drivers and travelers at that rest stop and most of them weren't so surprised to hear about the armed robbery because, they say, Pennsylvania rest stops have far less security than other states.

The rest stop on Interstate 81 northbound past Clarks Summit is a busy place during the day but on Tuesday night, a trucker from Missouri thought he was alone when he stopped for a bathroom break.

Three men robbed him at gunpoint and then fled onto I-81 north.

"I'm really surprised up here. It's a little desolate. That's probably why."

It was in the men's room of the rest stop where the three robbers came up from behind the victim. One held a gun to his back, and they told him to empty his pockets. They got away with all his cash.

"If I was in this location at night and I was going to the wash room, I wouldn't take my wallet with me."

Sean Graham, who is traveling back to Canada, says he takes extra precautions at secluded rest stops.

Other drivers do, too. We met several people from southern states who were surprised that the rest stops do not have regular police patrols at night.

"Down there, we have security, or it is the state police, or it would be an armed service that would be in the rest areas. I don't know about during the day time but I do know at night they're there," said Florida resident Ralph Fabricatore.

Drivers we talked to think there should be some security measures, or cameras that would protect the truck drivers who are there at night.

"I noticed in a lot of locations, also Ohio, they have on-duty maintenance people so they will, there's constantly someone in the building, or on the grounds changing garbage, whatever may be. That may also be a deterrent," Graham added.

"They definitely should install cameras, and have police protection at all of the rest areas, every one of them, even where the truck drivers are. You can never be too safe," said Florida resident Joan Landry.

The victim of the robbery was not hurt and told investigators that the three men who robbed him were in their 20s or 30s. One had his arm in a sling, and they took off in a dark sedan with a loud exhaust.

Anyone with information is asked to call state police.

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