A man currently doing time at SCI-Camp Hill now faces felony robbery and related charges after police say DNA evidence linked him to a 2023 armed robbery at a Schuylkill County convenience store where employees were forced into a beer cooler.
Shane Mowrer, 52, formerly from Millville, is charged with multiple offenses, including felony counts of criminal attempt to commit robbery and terroristic threats, as well as misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, recklessly endangering another person, theft, and receiving stolen property.
State Police say they responded to an armed robbery at the Sheppton Mini Mart in East Union Township on the night of Aug. 28, 2023.
Store employees told police a man wearing a black ski mask and black clothing entered through the back door holding a black handgun. Police say the man pointed the firearm at the employees, ordered one to lock the front door, and shouted, “give me the money, give me the money”.
After an employee handed over approximately $700 from the cash and lottery registers, the man ordered both workers onto the ground and then into the store’s beer cooler, telling them “do not come out.” The man then turned off an interior light and exited through the rear door.
Surveillance video showed the suspect walking north along Route 924. Two days later, Troopers searching the highway’s shoulder recovered a crumbled $1 bill, a $50 bill, and a black and gray right-handed glove that matched the one worn in the surveillance footage.
Police say the glove was sent to the State Police Crime Lab for testing. In May 2024, a DNA profile was obtained from the glove and submitted to a national database, identifying Mowrer as a possible contributor.
Police interviewed Mowrer in August 2024 at the Montour County Prison, where he was incarcerated on unrelated charges. According to police, Mowrer denied involvement in the robbery and denied being in Schuylkill County except when traveling through en route to Kensington for heroin. Police obtained a DNA sample from Mowrer during that interview.
In December 2024, lab results confirmed a match between Mowrer’s DNA and the DNA found on the glove. Investigators say that the probability of randomly selecting an unrelated individual with the same DNA profile is approximately 1 in 230 octillion (that’s 1:230,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).
During a subsequent interview at SCI-Camp Hill last month, police say Mowrer told them, “I’m done with this interview” and immediately left the room.
Mowrer is scheduled for arraignment on the armed robbery charges before Magisterial District Judge Anthony Kilker on Monday in Shenandoah. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 23.
He also has a pending case in Montour County, where he’s charged with multiple counts of possession with intent to deliver. Mowrer is currently serving 1-4 years in state prison on a theft charge. He was sentenced in March.
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