GLENBURN TOWNSHIP -- A bank robbery near Clarks Summit led police on a search spanning two counties.
Police believe the robbers held up the bank in Lackawanna County then may have torched their getaway car in Wyoming County.
Police and firefighters in the Mill City area of Wyoming County were called to put out a burning Jeep on a vacant lot in Falls Township but they didn't know yet where the torched SUV would lead back to.
Police think the driver of the Jeep may have started the morning at Peoples Security Bank in Lackawanna County near Clarks Summit. The Jeep may have been used as a getaway vehicle for two men who held up the bank just as it opened around 8 a.m. Friday.
"On a Facebook page, I can't remember which police department it was, they said they had a car fully engulfed in flames. I didn't think anything of it until you just mentioned it to me, I didn't have any idea," said Eric Stanley of Dalton.
Stanley didn't know that Facebook post would affect his day. Peoples Security Bank was closed all day while police and FBI agents were investigating.
Officers searched the wooded area next to the bank for evidence, while officers in Wyoming County searched for the robbers themselves.
They set up a command center on Mill City Road near where the burned Jeep was found. Neighbors in nearby Overfield Township said they saw helicopters circling above.
"We looked out the window and thought, 'The helicopters don't usually come around here and this guy's flying around in a circle.' My wife thought it was the news. Then we saw all the police and we thought, 'Something's going on here,'" said Steve Davis of Overfield Township.
If the Jeep was indeed the robbers' getaway car, the men traveled about 10 miles into Wyoming County after the bank robbery. Police weren't sure at first if they walked or ran away, or how far they may have gone.
"We're just staying inside, letting the police do their jobs. We're all law abiding people around here but we're ready for anybody to try and break in, I'll put it that way," Davis added.
Police believe the Jeep that was torched may have been one of the vehicles stolen from a car dealership in Honesdale earlier this week.
Investigators haven't said if they have security pictures of the robbers when they held up the bank.