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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A former travel store manager who staged a Super Bowl Sunday heist and then got stiffed when his alleged accomplice never turned over his half of the cash pleaded guilty Tuesday to robbery.</p><p>Michael A. Cunningham, 35, of Scranton, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/515814/manager-charged-in-connection-with-armed-robbery-of-petro-travel-center" target="_blank">confessed to police in February</a> that he played a role in two separate robberies of more than $11,000 each from the Pilot Travel Center in Dupont.</p><p>Luzerne County Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. accepted Cunningham&#8217;s plea to a single felony count of robbery and ordered him to repay $33,534 in restitution.</p><p>An employee at the travel center said Cunningham no longer works at the store.</p><p>&#8220;I believe he was fired right after it happened,&#8221; the employee said Tuesday.</p><p>Cunningham told police he paid a man named &#8220;Marco,&#8221; who he met at Mohegan Sun Casino, $1,500 to rob the store. He said Super Bowl Sunday would be the ideal date and instructed his alleged accomplice to remove the store&#8217;s security system.</p><p>Clad in a mask, &#8220;Marco&#8221; entered the travel center on the evening of Feb. 7 and led a cashier at gunpoint to the store&#8217;s safe, police say. Cunningham told police he was struck in the head with a baton after &#8220;Marco&#8221; shoved the cashier toward his office.</p><p>Cunningham, police say, opened the safe for the masked man, who allegedly took four money boxes from inside the safe and fled the store. Cunningham pushed his panic button and called police, later telling them $11,500 was taken from the safe and that he and &#8220;Marco&#8221; were supposed to split the prize.</p><p>Cunningham destroyed the store security system after &#8220;Marco&#8221; failed to take it, police say. He checked a location where &#8220;Marco&#8221; was supposed to store his half of the score two days after the robbery, but said it wasn&#8217;t there.</p><p>He stole another $12,000 in January to cover up another robbery that happened in November, police say.</p><p>Police were dispatched to the Petro Travel Center on Nov. 27 for a report of an armed robbery, during which Cunningham claimed $675 was taken. Cunningham said he planned to make up the difference before the next audit by stealing a little bit at a time and gambling at Mohegan Sun Pocono to replace the money.</p><p>Police said that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, records show that Cunningham gambled at the casino 27 times, but was unable to make the $12,000.</p><p>Cunningham&#8217;s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 2.</p><p>He remains free on $35,000 unsecured bail.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Cunningham </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_web1_IMG_1715-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Cunningham </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Travel store manager involved in Super Bowl Sunday heist pleads guilty