Make TBO Your Home Page| Subscribe To The Paper| Advertise With Us| Contact Us| Login| Edit Profile| Register
Hernando Today
Email
Print
Brooksville Bank Target Of Failed Robbery
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 15, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - Coy Viars arrived at Brannen Bank at Cortez Boulevard and Barclay Avenue on Tuesday to make a lunchtime deposit.
He left as a witness to robbery.
Viars, 61, was parked in the drive-through lane of the bank at about 12:30 when he saw a black male running across the parking lot carrying a bag spewing red smoke.
"I knew as soon as I saw the bag it was a robbery," Viars said.
The man threw the bag over a fence separating the bank property from the back of the Carriage Crossings apartment complex. He scaled the fence and took off running, leaving the bag of money behind.
About an hour later, Hernando County sheriff's deputies were loading a suspect and two possible accomplices into cruisers at the Hess at the corner of State Road 50 and Spring Lake Highway. Authorities think he is the same man who wore a "Scream" Halloween mask to rob a bank Tuesday morning in Temple Terrace.
A deputy had spotted a light blue Ford or Mercury sedan with a female driver and two male passengers, including a black male about 6 feet tall and roughly 150 pounds, according to Sgt. Donna Black, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. That fit the description witnesses gave of the suspect and the car fleeing the bank.
The suspect entered the bank wearing a Halloween mask similar to the one in the "Scream" horror movies and demanded money. A teller put an undisclosed amount in a black bag.
A dye pack in the bag exploded as the suspect fled.
Viars, the witness in the drive-through lane, said he figures the suspect knew at that point the money was a lost cause.
"There was so much smoke pouring out of it I don't think he bothered to pick it up," Viars said.
Viars said he pulled his permitted .44 caliber handgun and drove into the apartment complex. By then the man was gone.
"I would've tried to stop him," he said.
Three suspects were taken to the sheriff's office for questioning. Arrested on a charge of being a principal to robbery in connection with the Brannen Bank robbery are:
• Casey Edward Mitchell, 51, a transient from the Tampa area; held on $50,000 bond.
• Andre L. Franklin, 36, a transient from the Tampa area; held on $50,000 bond.
• Jennifer L. Roberts, 36, a transient from the Tampa area; no bond listed.
Detectives from Temple Terrace Police Department were at the Hernando County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday evening interviewing the subjects.
Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2010 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
