Winkleman Pleads Guilty in Renovo Bank Robbery, Sentenced to State Prison

LOCK HAVEN — Josh Winkelman, 25, today entered a guilty plea to the Oct. 29, 2015 robbery of the Santander Bank in Renovo.

Clinton County President Judge Craig Miller sentenced Winkleman to four to 10 years in a state prison for the robbery and related crimes including theft, possession of a firearm and fleeing and eluding police.

Winkleman had been wanted by local authorities in connection with the October bank robbery and was captured in Georgia in May of this year when found sleeping in a truck in the restaurant district of Richmond Hill, near Savannah. He had been extradited to Clinton County in June and incarcerated at the Clinton County Correctional Facility since that time.

The Winkleman case was one of twists and turns as police attempted to solve the Renovo bank robbery. It turned out the truck Winkelman was found in was not his truck. State police said the truck had been stolen sometime between May 20 and May 23 from its owner, Brian Mills of North Bend, brother of Renovo area district judge Frank Mills.

It was on May 2 that a state police drug strike force descended on Winkelman’s 5th Street home in Renovo only to find that he had fled. Authorities had been on the lookout since that time and subsequently issued a release terming him “armed and dangerous.” It had been believed he was hiding out in the Summerson Mountain area of Chapman Township. He was subsequently taken into custody in Georgia; he faces charges there related to his alleged attempt to avoid arrest.