Coatesville Man Sentenced to State Prison For 2 Bank Robberies

COATESVILLE, PA — A Chester County man was sentenced Thursday in Montgomery County Court to 10 to 20 years in state prison for robbing two banks in Lower Merion Township between July 1 and 9, 2022.

John Charles Birchall, 65, of Coatesville, was convicted in October on charges of robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, terroristic threats, and simple assault.

Police said Birchall committed holdups at the Wells Fargo Bank and the WSFS Bank, both in the Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center in Lower Merion, between July 1 and July 9, 2022.

Judge Risa Vetri Ferman also ordered Birchall to pay $9,031 in restitution.

The case

The investigation began about 11 a.m. on July 1, 2022, when Lower Merion police responded to the Wells Fargo Bank in the shopping center along East City Avenue, for a report of an older white male approaching a teller and saying, “I need $100’s and $20’s” and when the teller asked the male for his bank card he replied, “No, this is a robbery,” according to the criminal complaint.

Police were dispatched to the WSFS Bank in the same shopping center at about 11 a.m. on July 9 for another robbery where an older, white male entered the bank, demanded money, and instructed the teller not to include a dye pack with the money, police said.