Three banks are robbed in two days Teen held in one case; thefts seem unrelated

Bandits robbed three north county banks in two days this week, but federal officials say they do not believe the crimes are related.

Police took a 17-year-old Lansdowne youth into custody in the third robbery and said they plan to charge him as an adult with robbery with a deadly weapon and assault with intent to murder. The second charge stems from the threat to assault the teller, police said.

Police did not release the teen-ager’s name.

The physical descriptions of the robbers in the first holdup yesterday and one Tuesday did not match, police said.

The youth was being held in the robbery of a Signet Bank branch in the 700 block of Hammonds Ferry Road in Linthicum about 10: 45 a.m.

Police said the thief demanded money from a teller, implying that he had a weapon and would use it. The teller complied and the thief ran away, police said.

Witnesses said they saw a man fitting the thief’s description getting into a red car. Witnesses also told police they recognized the thief as an employee of a Linthicum-area business, police said.

Some county police said they recognized the thief’s description and tracked him to an undisclosed location in Baltimore County, where he was taken into custody about 2: 15 p.m. yesterday.

The Linthicum robbery occurred about 15 minutes after a man walked into the NationsBank branch in the 7900 block of Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd. in Glen Burnie and handed a teller a note, ordering her to place money in a bag, starting with the $100 bills, police said.

The teller gave him cash and a red dye pack in her lunch bag, police said. Witnesses said they saw the pack explode inside a green Ford automobile.

The bandit drove north on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard, police said.

The thief was described as white, about 30, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall with dark hair. He was wearing a red baseball cap, red coat and light-colored jeans.

The first robbery occurred shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Arundel Federal Savings Bank branch in the 600 block of Crain Highway in Glen Burnie.

Witnesses said a man pulled a green bag from under his shirt, handed it to a teller and demanded money, but said, “No dye packs and no funny stuff,” police said.

The teller told police she was afraid the robber was armed because he fidgeted with the front of his shirt.

As she filled the bag, he looked over the counter, saw several $50 bills in a drawer and demanded those too, police said.

The teller handed him the bag and he drove off in a pickup, police said. No further information on the getaway vehicle was available.

He is described as white, 18 to 25, between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build, and reddish hair with a mustache and goatee. He was wearing dark pants, a gray sweat shirt, a dark jacket with an emblem on the left front, a dark baseball cap with a logo on it and dark athletic shoes.

Larry K. Foust, an FBI spokesman in Baltimore, said yesterday he is not disturbed by the rash of bank robberies — which brings the county’s total this year to eight.

“I really don’t see this as a disturbing trend at all,” Mr. Foust said.

Acting Sgt. William H. Collier, who heads the county police robbery unit, agreed with Mr. Foust.

“Today we had two robberies at just about the same time,” he said. “It was just a coincidence.

Pub Date: 4/11/96