Montco Man Who Tried To Kill PA State Trooper Gets 25 Years In Prison

LANSDALE, PA — A local man who tried to shoot a Pennsylvania state trooper in the head while he was being arrested for an armed bank robbery in Bucks County back in the fall of 2020 will be spending 25 years and one day in federal prison for his crimes, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Christopher Larue, 44, of Lansdale, was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $7,500 in connection with his armed robbery of the QNB Bank in Perkasie, Pa. back on Oct. 19, 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Larue had pleaded guilty this past October to one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of armed bank robbery.

He received his prison sentence on Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter.

According to federal authorities, Larue, who had previously served prison time for bank robbery back in 2009, entered the QNB Bank in Bucks County wearing dark clothing and a mask and brandishing a firearm while he announced a holdup.

Larue ended up robbing the bank of more than $11,000 and then fleeing to his job site in the Conshohocken section of Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County. Police tracked him to the site via GPS device that had been hidden with the stolen money, according to federal prosecutors.

Once police caught up with Larue, a state trooper attempted to take him into custody, but Larue grabbed a gun, pointed it at the head of the trooper, and pulled the trigger.

The gun misfired, however, and troopers were able to take Larue in to custody without further incident, according to authorities.

Investigators discovered the stolen bank money, along with additional ammunition and the clothing and mask used during the robbery, inside of Larue's work locker.

Larue had served more than 12 years in federal prison previously on a 2009 conviction relating to five additional bank robberies. He was on supervised release at the time of the October 2020 armed robbery in Bucks County.

"This sentencing is especially poignant during a week when we have lost two Pennsylvania State Troopers who were bravely executing their duty in the face of extreme danger," United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said in a statement following Larue's sentencing. "In this case, the defendant acted with complete disregard and callousness for the lives of the Pennsylvania State Troopers and the bank employees whom he threatened with a firearm. But for a mis-fired gun, the outcome could have been yet another tragic loss of life. The U.S. Attorney's Office will not tolerate this kind of violent lawlessness."

Because the case involved the robbery of a bank, and it crossed jurisdictional lines within Pennsylvania as well, a whole host of law enforcement agencies were involved with the investigation.

This included the Pennsylvania State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, Bucks County District Attorney's Office, and the Perkasie Borough Police Department.

Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge at the FBI's Philadelphia Division, pointed to the violent nature of Larue's crime, nothing that Larue asked the state trooper if he "wanted to die that day," at the time he pointed a gun at the law enforcement officer's head.

"This is a dangerous serial offender who needs to be off the street," Maguire said in a statement. "The FBI will continue working with the Pennsylvania State Police and all our law enforcement partners to keep violent criminals like Larue from committing further harm."