Collegeville Bank Robber Gets 4 to 8 Years in Prison

A Conshohocken man who pleaded guilty to committing unarmed bank robberies in Conshohocken and Collegeville will spend the next four to eight years in prison, according to the Times Herald.

Patch previously reported that Gregory Van Diepen, 31 of the 1000 block of Colwell Lane, was arrested after robbing two banks in August to support his drug addiction, according to his attorney. 

Van Diepen robbed the First Niagra Bank on Main Street in Collegeville on Aug. 6 after passing a note to the teller, explaining that he had a gun and “nothing to lose.”

Van Diepen was given an undisclosed amount of money and fled on foot.

A week later, Van Diepen robbed a PNC Bank on Fayette Street using the same methods, and the surveillance photos matched those of the Collegeville robbery.

Later in August, Van Diepen was identified after re-entering the same PNC bank he had robbed a week earlier. Police arrested him on North Lane in Plymouth Township a short time later.

One of Van Diepen’s family members said he had been struggling with an addiction to pain medication.

For more on this story:

   First Niagra Bank Robbed in Collegeville