Renovo Community Rallies Over Weekend Crime

RENOVO — Renovo residents, past and present, are upset over a Saturday night robbery which occurred while a high school student was cleaning up at the Service Garage gas station at 420 Huron Avenue. They are upset to the point that they raised $3,400 in less than 24 hours after the robbery became known.

Local resident Butch Knauff and former residents Kraig Barner of Jefferson Park, AL and Ken Barner of Dumfries, VA collaborated to set up the fundraising, all done in a short period of time through social media Facebook. They are proposing that the first $1,000 raised be used as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the robbery. The leftover funds would be used for any such future incidents.

Knauff said, “All that matters is we get this lunacy stopped.” He said the community stepped up and “put our money where our mouth is.”

State police who investigated the Saturday night event said a 17-year-old male was at work cleaning up inside. Trooper Kimberly Patterson said an unknown male forced an entry into the garage while the employee was cleaning. Her report said the intruder instructed the victim to hand over the business money; he then left on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Anyone with information should contact trooper Patterson at the Lamar state police barracks at 570-726-6000.

Meanwhile a second crime was reported to have occurred Tuesday morning in Farwell, a truck theft which village residents said ended when the truck owner chased after the thief and the truck ended up crashed on the Hyner Mountain Road. So far police have released no information on that incident.