A bank robbery in Cape St. Claire yesterday had FBI agents and county police searching for suspects for the fourth time in three weeks.
The agents and local police believe the string of Annapolis area bank robberies might be connected to an Annapolis man wanted on armed robbery charges.
Officials stopped short of naming a suspect in yesterday's robbery at the Annapolis Bank and Trust in the 700 block of College Parkway East.
They acknowledged, however, that the way the robbery happened and the description of one of the culprits matched descriptions witnesses have given in two other bank robberies during the past two weeks. Tyreus Tyrone Brown, also known as "Huggy," of Annapolis has been charged in one of those robberies.
In yesterday's robbery, county police said, two men walked into the bank about 9: 30 a.m. One went behind the teller counter while the other stayed in the lobby.
The first man went through the teller drawers and filled a bag with cash while the second ordered everyone in the lobby to lie face down on the floor, according to police.
A county police report said the second man lifted his shirt to show the handle of a handgun, but FBI officials were unable to confirm that through witness statements. FBI spokesman Larry K. Foust said the men did imply that they were armed.
The men left the bank and fled in a gold Toyota with Virginia license tag number ZEV-5061, according to county police.
Both men were described as black and about 6 feet tall. The first man was thin, had a light complexion, was between 25 and 30 and wore a baseball cap. The second man was dark, between 20 and 25 with a medium to stocky build and wore blue jeans.
Brown is described as black with a light complexion, 6 feet 1 inch and 170 pounds, with a gold upper-front tooth.
He is charged by Annapolis police with assault against an officer July 4, by Anne Arundel County police with the July 8 armed robbery of an Annapolis Popeye's restaurant, and by the FBI with the armed robbery of Annapolis Bank and Trust in the 2500 block of Riva Road in Annapolis on Aug. 13.
Though federal officials have not charged him, county police labeled Brown a suspect in the robbery of a First National Bank branch in the 500 block of Ritchie Highway in Severna Park on Aug. 21.
Descriptions of the two men in that robbery matched the descriptions given in yesterday's, police said, and the method of operation was also similar: One man vaulted the teller's door to get to the money while the other stayed in the lobby and ordered customers to the floor.
On Aug. 13, a tall black man with a light complexion walked to a teller's window at the Annapolis Bank and Trust branch on Riva Road and asked for change. While the teller bent down to get a roll of quarters, the man announced a robbery and gave the teller a bag to fill. He did not display a weapon. The man then ran behind the bank to a townhouse complex and fled in a white Dodge Neon, according to police.
FBI officials have charged Brown with that robbery. They are investigating whether it is related to another bank robbery at an Arundel Federal Savings Bank branch in the 2600 block of Riva Road the day before.
Pub Date: 8/29/97
