(La Porte, IN) - A second man is now in custody in connection with close to $2,000 in cash taken during a robbery at gunpoint in La Porte last year.

 

Police say a heart shaped tattoo on Lucas Connor, Jr., of South Bend, helped identify him as the other person directly involved in the heist.

 

The other suspect, Xavier Cooper, 23, of Elkhart was arraigned on the allegations last month in La Porte Circuit Court.

 

According to court documents, both men stormed inside Advance America in the 1100 block of W. Indiana 2 in March of 2024 and jumped over the counter. Guns were held to a female worker manning the register at the short term cash loan company.  She retrieved the money from two different locations as ordered by the suspects wearing masks and gloves, police said.

 

The men fled in a vehicle located abandoned and still running in an alley a short distance away on L St.

 

Investigators were led several months later to a third man currently facing homicide charges in Allen County, who said he picked up the suspects right after the robbery and drove them to South Bend, court records disclosed.

 

The man was shown a picture of Connor posted on Facebook and he recognized him by heart shaped tattoo on his neck.  He knew him only by his nickname, “Lul Glow,” police said.

 

Police said the Facebook photo of “Lul Glow” was later entered into a facial recognition program through the Indiana Department of Motor Vehicles, which identified the image as Connor.

 

Connor was taken into custody in late March about six weeks after a warrant was issued for his arrest.