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Charges filed against Arvest bank robbery suspect |
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Saturday, 22 August 2009 |
By Jenny Huggins
News Reporter
Larry Eugene Walden, 57 of Stigler, has been charged in the District Court of LeFlore County with first degree robbery in connection with the April 20 robbery at Arvest Bank in Poteau.
According to court records, Poteau Police Detective Steve Tiffee received a call from Arvest Bank. The caller said the bank had been robbed.
Records show that the suspect was identified by the teller Laci Cameron as a white male, age 50 to 60, wearing a tan over green jacket with blue jeans and cap. She stated the man had given her a blue bank bag with a note attached. The note stated that he was robbing the bank and he allegedly told the teller he had a gun.
Cameron stated that she placed the money from her bank drawer in the bag along with a dye pack and gave it to the robber who exited the bank to the parking lot. She stated the man went north to an apartment complex behind the bank and the bank employees saw the dye pack ignite. Officers were unable to locate the suspect.
On April 30, the Poteau Police Department received information that the First National Bank of Sallisaw had been robbed. The suspect at the Sallisaw bank was initially identified through photos as being the same man who had robbed the Poteau bank.
On June 12 the First National Bank on Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith was robbed. Officials believed the same person was responsible for each of the three robberies and an earlier bank robbery in McAlester.
During the investigations it was discovered that a man answering the description of the man who was a suspect in the bank robberies had stayed in a Fort Smith, Ark., motel and used the name Larry Eugene Walden.
A warrant was obtained for Walden and he was found and arrested in Dardanelle, Ark.
Walden gave the arresting officers consent to search his room and vehicle where they found evidence of items used in a Midwest City bank robbery, as well as the Poteau, Sallisaw and McAlester robberies.
According to the affidavit officers found the blue bank bag that had been used in all the bank robberies that had red dye on it that was consistent with the dye pack used by the banks.
They also found some money with red dye on it.
Walden agreed to speak with the officers without counsel present and gave details of each bank robbery.
According to the affidavit Walden reportedly told officers that he had walked to the Poteau bank and gave the teller a blue bank bag that had a note attached to it.
He added that he told the teller he had a gun but admitted to the officers that he didn't have a gun at that time.
Walden reportedly said that as he was leaving the bank he heard a popping and sizzling noise when the red dye pack went off in the bag.
He stated that he left the apartment parking lot and went to Fort Smith. Walden reportedly told the officers that all the money in the bag was burnt.
He said the money had red dye on it and threw it away in a plastic bag because it was ruined.
Fort Smith detectives recovered the jacket, jeans, shirt and shoes that Walden said he wore during the robbery along with the blue bank bag.
On June 15 Cameron identified Walden as being the man who had robbed the Poteau bank.
A warrant in LeFlore County remains outstanding for Walden.
In addition, Walden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury during the August 2009 session in connection with the Sallisaw robbery.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 24 August 2009 )
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