Bank Robbery Suspect Is Arrested In PE

Published 3:46 pm Thursday, September 6, 2012

PRINCE EDWARD – A suspect subsequently charged with robbing a bank in Appomattox was arrested near Kingsville Tuesday afternoon, according to Appomattox County Sheriff Barry Letterman.

The Farmville Police Department, the Prince Edward County Sheriff's Department and the Hampden-Sydney College Police Department all assisted the Appomattox County Sheriff's Department.

No shots were fired and the money was recovered, Sheriff Letterman told The Herald.

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“We got a call at about 4:19 yesterday afternoon of a robbery up here at the Farmers Bank at Triangle Plaza here in Appomattox. We responded to it,” Sheriff Letterman said Wesdnesday, and officers found a witness “that got a license number off the vehicle. It came back to a Meherrin address so one of our deputies was going down 460 headed toward that Meherrin way and he actually ran up on the vehicle, got behind it, and of course he notified Prince Edward and Farmville…down there.”

Sheriff Letterman said the suspect exited US 460 to make a turn onto US 15 South “and at that point the officer tried to stop the vehicle, which he (the suspect) attempted to elude them. The Farmville police department did deploy spike strips, which did deflate one of the tires on the vehicle,” Sheriff Letterman explained.

Farmville Police Chief Doug Mooney told The Herald, “We received word of the bank robbery and were in communication with ASO (Appomattox Sheriff's Office) that one of their officers was following the suspect approaching Farmville. We signaled for (the suspect) to stop on the ramp to South Main Street. When he failed to stop we deployed spikes, which resulted in a tire going flat. He fled south on Rt. 15, with the Appomattox Captain following and our officer secondary.”

The suspect, Sheriff Letterman said, “continued on down 15, through the little stoplight there at Kingsville, and just around the area of Town and Country (Furniture Warehouse) the vehicle somewhat became disabled and he (the suspect) got out and ran and he was pursued-a short foot chase-and was apprehended…It was actually a Hampden-Sydney officer, I think, who was the one to actually put the hands on him.”

Police Chief Mooney said that, “in front of Town and Country the suspect lost control, bailed out and ran in the woods with the two officers in pursuit, also joined by a Hampden-Sydney police officer. The suspect was taken into custody in the woods after a foot pursuit.”

Sheriff Letterman said the undisclosed amount of money taken from the bank “was all recovered.”

The suspect, he added, is being held at the Amherst Adult Detention Facility “with no bond.”

Sheriff Letterman was asked if a gun was shown during the robbery and answered, “Yes, he brandished a weapon, yes.”

No shots were fired, however, during the robbery or the subsequent chase by either the suspect or law enforcement officers, Sheriff Letterman said, “and nobody was hurt.”