The man accused of robbing a Preston County bank Wednesday has also been charged with the 2018 robbery of First United Bank on Chaplin Road.
Daryl Ray Waychoff, 55, of Houston, Pa., was arrested on Interstate 79 in Pennsylvania on Wednesday after officers from Preston and Monongalia County Sheriff’s Departments pursued him from Preston County.
According to a criminal complaint by Mon Sheriff’s Deputy S.C. Currie, a white male entered the First United Bank at 7 Chaplin Road on Sept. 15, 2018, and demanded money. A teller gave the man “several hundred dollars,” according to the complaint, and he fled on a motorcycle.
Preston County Sheriff’s Deputies say Waychoff entered the Clear Mountain Bank at Bruceton Mills about 11 a.m. Wednesday, told employees he had a firearm and demanded money. No employees were harmed, and witnesses saw the robber leave on a motorcycle and got a partial license plate number.
He was spotted on Interstate 68 near Coopers Rock by Preston and Mon deputies. The pursuit continued into Monongalia County, onto I-79 and into Pennsylvania. There, police say, Waychoff tried to travel through the median and struck a Preston cruiser.
The description of the motorcycle Waychoff was riding when he was arrested matched that of the one the First United Bank robber rode off on, according to the criminal complaint, and Waychoff was identified as the 2018 bank robber.
Waychoff is in the North Central Regional Jail in lieu of $1 million bond for Preston County and $150,000 bond for Monongalia County.
West Virginia and Pennsylvania State Police assisted in the pursuit and arrest.
Other charges are pending in other jurisdictions, according to Preston deputies.
