NEW DETAILS IN WEDNESDAY’S BANK HEIST
ST. ALBANS: An anonymous tip, as well as police recognizing the suspect on security footage, led police right to Benjamin Edwards according to the police affidavit in the case of the bank robbery on Wednesday, December 7th.
When police first arrived on Wednesday at Citizen’s Bank, on South Main Street in St. Albans, the teller described the subject as a tall, slender, black, middle-aged man, short hair, clean-shaven look, wearing green pants with holes and a green hoodie.
The Law Enforcement jumped into action, letting all the officers in the area know the description of the male subject.
Then police got two more quick breaks.
“When looking at the images I recognized who I know from previous law enforcement encounters to be Benjamin Edwards.” Officer Trevor Sargent said.
About the same time, police dispatchers received an anonymous call stating that the bank robber was “Benny Edwards.”
Word came quickly that Sheriff Robert Norris had pulled over a vehicle with a passenger matching the description of their suspect.
According to the affidavit, Norris was sitting in his cruiser monitoring traffic when he saw 30-year-old Katie Barkyoumb drive by in her Toyota Corolla.
According to police, Norris recognized the passenger in the vehicle as matching the description of the bank suspect, even wearing some of the same clothes as what was described in the bank heist moments earlier, so he pulled the vehicle over.
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St. Albans police who were investigating the bank robbery on South Main Street quickly responded to Fairfax Street area to determine if the suspect could be the same man as the security footage showed.
It didn’t take long. St. Albans police officers identified Benjamin Edwards, noticing some of the clothes he was wearing matched that of the suspect they were viewing on the bank’s security footage.
Police seized evidence from the vehicle that Edwards was riding in, including a pair of boots to check if they matched the footprints in the snow left by the suspect while fleeing the bank.
Police then arrested Edwards and transported him for processing. According to police, Edwards invoked his 5th amendment right to remain silent.
According to testimony given to the St. Albans Police, when the suspect came into the bank, he pointed a gun at the teller and said, “If you don’t give me the money I will shoot you.”
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During the course of the suspect fleeing, he dropped the handgun in the lobby of the bank. That gun was later seized into evidence.
When a police canine arrived, from Colchester to track the subject, the dog led them to an old gas station parking lot just south of the bank. In that parking lot, police say they found a flat brimmed baseball cap with wear on the right side of it.
“When looking at the hat worn by Edwards in the image provided by Citizens Bank it was a flat brimmed, dark colored baseball cap which had the same wear on the brim,” a St. Albans officer wrote in a sworn statement to the court.
Edwards pled not guilty at his arraignment on Wednesday afternoon, however, was held by Judge Gregory Rainville on $35,000 bail pending trial by a jury of his peers.
Currently, Edwards is being housed at Northwest State Correctional Center, according to state records.
You can read the police affidavit here:
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