PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County investigators said they were tailing a former West Virginia University linebacker as he orchestrated the latest in a string of bank holdups.
Cleo Kevin “Boo” McLee Jr., 32, of Stowe, was followed to Squirrel Hill on Thursday afternoon, where he approached the First Niagara Bank branch on Murray Avenue. Authorities apprehended McLee as he entered the bank, his neck tattoo hidden by makeup they watched him apply minutes before.
McLee, who played at WVU from 2002-2006 before brief stints with the Los Angeles Rams and the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, was charged with robbing four banks in Pittsburgh and Crafton during the past seven weeks, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story.
Initially charged in connection with an Aug. 22 robbery of a Dollar Bank branch at the Crafton-Ingram Shopping Center, McLee was linked to previous holdups spanning two months. The common thread—a note alerting tellers that, “This is a robbery. Give me hundreds and fifties. No dye packs.”
McLee was arraigned Friday on the Crafton robbery and was in the Allegheny County Jail with bail set at $100,000.
Pittsburgh police charged McLee with bank robberies on July 8 at a First Niagara branch in the West End, an Aug. 15 robbery of First Niagara in downtown and the Aug. 16 robbery of Dollar Bank on Smithfield Street.
McLee earned All-Big East honors in 2005 and was a two-time winner of the team’s Gridiron Gladiator Award chosen by coaches.