News

Thief not smiling when ATM photo leads to additional charge

September 9, 2003

ThieSTROUDSBURG, Pa. - The hangover from Sean Redner's 2003 New Year's celebration got a lot worse when a Monroe County jury convicted him of robbery and assault on Sept. 8.

Redner, 22, admitted trashing an ATM early on the morning of Jan. 1 after drinking a quart of liquor, according to a report in the Pocono (Pa.) Record.

Redner was caught on a security camera kicking the ATM at a Citizens Bank branch. He testified he beat and kicked the machine on a whim.

After the photos of him at the ATM appeared in the Pocono Record, a woman whom he allegedly robbed the day after the ATM incident, on Jan. 2, recognized him.

Kettly Turnbull, the alleged victim, testified that Redner tried to grab $1,200 in cash she was sending to a bank for her mortgage. She said he reached over her shoulders with both arms and tried to twist the cash out of her grip.

But Turnbull held on to her money and fought him off. Her assailant dragged her out onto the street where the fight continued. Bills flew everywhere, witnesses testified, as Turnbull, who broke her finger during the struggle, resisted Redner.

Turnbull testified that she grabbed Redner's sweatshirt and shirt, but he wriggled out of them and ran away naked to the waist on the freezing afternoon.

His escape was short-lived, because police asked the Pocono Record to print the security camera photos in an effort to identify the man who smashed the ATM.

"Oh, my God, it's him," Turnbull said she shouted when she saw the Jan. 9 edition of the paper.

Dorothy Eilber, proprietor of the Western Union office where the robbery occurred, also recognized Redner from the newspaper photos. Eilber testified that Redner had been in the Western Union office a month before to pick up money sent by his mother in Michigan.

Turnbull and Eilber both identified Redner as the robber.

In the end, Redner got only $200 of Turnbull's mortgage money, according to the Pocono Record report.

Redner is awaiting sentencing in the Monroe County Correctional Facility. He faces up to five years in prison.