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Wheeling Police Arrest Woodsdale Robbery Suspect

The Wheeling Police Department has arrested the man they call the primary suspect in an armed robbery at a Woodsdale gambling parlor.

Robert Lee Haller Jr., 40, of 234 East Cardinal Ave., Wheeling, has been charged with armed robbery of a clerk at Up on the Lane, as well as with four, unrelated felony counts of fraudulent schemes.

Ohio County Magistrate Harry Radcliffe arraigned Haller on all charges Thursday and set his bond at $125,000 with monitored home confinement, according to court documents. Haller is in West Virginia Northern Regional Jail.

Haller allegedly threatened a clerk with a knife on Sept. 21, demanding she give him money from the register, according to a criminal complaint. He got $500 before he left the business located at 97 Edgington Lane.

Haller’s brother later identified Robert Haller as the suspect in a video clip that was distributed by police, the complaint states. His brother also reported to police that Robert Haller had stolen his driver’s license.

In the video, police reportedly observed Haller “casing” the business by driving by it several times before the robbery, the complaint states.

On Sept. 23, police got a search warrant for Haller’s vehicle, and allegedly found one blank check and four checks made payable to Haller, totaling $1,842.39, and with a notation of “payroll” on each — but allegedly written on checks from Dr. Philip D. High’s checking account.

When questioned, High said he had not employed Haller, but that Haller had delivered wings to High’s home from a pub in Warwood, the complaint states.

Regarding those checks, Haller was charged with one count of fraudulent schemes.

In his second fraudulent schemes charge, Haller is accused of making four purchases totaling $3,510 with four checks that bounced in September at the Smoker Friendly store at The Highlands.

His third fraudulent schemes charge alleges that he used a check from his own, closed business account 10 times to pay for a total $4,310.64 in alcohol at Smoker Friendly at 100 S. Huron St., Wheeling, according to a criminal complaint. Haller allegedly produced his brother’s driver’s license when asked for identification at the store.

The fourth fraudulent schemes charge is based on a report that Haller had been paying for items at Riesbeck’s in Wheeling, all on the closed business checking account. The total at Riesbeck’s was $5,334.74, a complaint states.

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