NORTHWEST ARKANSAS Focus : Man, 67, is arrested after bank robbery
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007
VAN BUREN — Police are working to connect a man arrested after a bank robbery Wednesday afternoon to a string of similar robberies in western and central Arkansas.
Ernest G. Lail, 67, of Landis, N. C., was arrested after he crashed his car into a pond during a police chase after the First Community Bank of Crawford County was robbed.
The bank, at U. S. 64 and Alma Boulevard, was robbed about 3: 15 p. m. Wednesday.
Van Buren police Lt. Brent Grill said a man wearing a gray jacket walked into the bank, showed a small gun and robbed two tellers. Grill said police later found about $ 10, 000 in the car Lail was driving.
Lail was booked into the Crawford County jail in Van Buren without bond on charges of aggravated robbery and fleeing.
Grill stopped short of saying Lail was responsible for bank robberies in Fort Smith, Van Buren, Alma and North Little Rock in January and February.
“I would say you can breathe a sigh of relief tonight,” Grill said. “It looks pretty good at this point.”
Officials of law enforcement agencies will meet today to determine if Lail was involved in the other robberies.
WEDNESDAY’S ROBBERY Houston Rios, a security guard at the US Bank on Alma Boulevard, spotted a man with a bag in his hand walking rapidly toward a blue Pontiac Grand Am from the First Community Bank. The car was parked next door at a McDonald’s restaurant, Grill said. At the same time, Van Buren police officer Christy Hall was pulling into the McDonald’s when she heard of the robbery on the police radio. Rios pointed to the Pontiac, and Hall pulled in behind it as it was leaving the McDonald’s parking lot, Grill said. As soon as the Pontiac’s driver saw a police car behind him, he sped up and turned north onto North 28 th Street, Grill said. Video from the camera in Hall’s car, shown to reporters Wednesday evening, showed the Pontiac speeding ahead of Hall, weaving in and out of traffic on the narrow street and skidding around curves. Hall reported she was traveling 55 mph on a road with a 25 mph limit.
The Pontiac turned north and sped into a cul-de-sac and onto Lonnie and Mary Ann Mitchell’s yard at 3105 B Laura Lane.
“It went by so fast, I couldn’t tell what color is was,” Mary Ann Mitchell said.
Interstate 540 is just across a fence from the Mitchell home. The Pontiac swerved away from the interstate, crashed through a fence, up an embankment and into a small pond, where it got stuck. Hall ran to the pond and arrested Lail.
Mary Ann Mitchell said an Arkansas State Police cruiser was parked on the side of the interstate just across from her property.
Hall made the arrest alone, but help soon arrived.
“He didn’t give too much hassle,” Lonnie Mitchell said. “There were so many all over him.” Van Buren police Capt. Tony Kaman said officers were congratulating one another after the arrest. Hall went back to US Bank to thank Rios for helping her spot the suspect. Rios, who Grill said had been hired to guard US Bank after the robberies, declined comment Wednesday.
SIMILAR ITEMS FOUND Investigators say the same man is responsible for robbing the US Bank in North Little Rock on Jan. 8, the First National Bank of Fort Smith on Jan. 24, the Bank of the Ozarks in Van Buren on Feb. 12 and the US Bank in Alma on Feb. 22. In each case, an older man wearing sunglasses strolled into the bank and pointed a small gun at tellers, demanding money. In three of the robberies, he wore a blue coat with green hood and a yellow stripe around the collar.
In the Alma robbery, the robber wore a jacket inscribed with the letters “FBI.”
After Lail’s arrest, investigators found items in the Pontiac that were similar to those used by the man suspected in the other bank robberies. Police found two jackets, one of which was similar to one worn by the bandit in one of the robberies. They also found sunglasses and a ball cap similar to those used in the other heists.
A small toy gun, which Grill said was likely the weapon shown to tellers Wednesday, was found in the car.
Police found credit card and other receipts in the car that Grill said he hoped would help track Lail’s movements.
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