Police question man, determine he’s not serial bank robber
Hopes a serial robber’s spree may be stopped were premature as a suspect detained for questioning in Morrison Friday was apparently not the man known to authorities as the Rodeo Robber.
The unidentified man was stopped by the highway patrol Friday morning after he entered a bank in Morrison, creating suspicion by the staff there. A warning had been circulated to area banks Thursday indicating a serial robber was believed to be working the area, most recently hitting Union Planters Bank in Auburntown in neighboring Cannon County on June 13.
The man, although fitting the general description of the Rodeo Robber did not pan out, although it was discovered he was wanted in Georgia on unrelated outstanding warrants.
The Rodeo Robber moniker was handed to the serial robber because of his appearance. He is generally neatly dressed and wears a cowboy hat. In his first robbery, the suspect wore his gun in a holster concealed under a sports jacket. He generally forces tellers into the vault and orders them to fill his bags full of money.
The man’s questioning comes after banks in the area were put on alert following the Auburntown robbery. Authorities believe the same robber has been responsible for at least four bank robberies in the Midstate including First Tennessee Bank in Watertown, robbed in January of this year and also hit in April of 2001 by the same robber. The initial robbery committed by the bandit occurred in November of 2000 in Alexandria.
According to Cannon County authorities who came to Warren County to question the Morrison suspect Friday, the robber has been quite successful, walking away with over $40,000 per robbery. His recent emergence in Auburntown has lawmen suspecting he may be rekindling his spree.
In the recent robberies, he has approached the tellers inquiring about account information before drawing his pistol. In addition to his relatively neat appearance, the suspect is described as standing from 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8 and being of medium build.