Bank robberies in Lebanon and O’Fallon may be linked, police say
Authorities on Friday said it’s possible that two bank robberies reported four months apart in the metro-east may be related.
O’Fallon Police Lt. David Matevey said no arrests had been made as of Friday morning in connection with a bank robbery that was reported Thursday afternoon at U.S. Bank on South Lincoln Avenue in O’Fallon. Matevey said police were still following up on leads in the case.
Lebanon Police Chief David Roth said police were looking into the possibility that Thursday’s robbery in O’Fallon might have been committed by the same person who robbed Regions Bank on East Schuetz Street in Lebanon nearly four months ago.
“We are looking at the possibility of similarities between both incidents,” Roth said Friday.
We are looking at the possibility of similarities between both incidents.
Lebanon Police Chief David Roth
O’Fallon Police released surveillance images after the bank robbery was reported Thursday. The images showed a man pointing a handgun over the front counter inside the bank. Another image showed a blue SUV with a missing hub cap on the back passenger side.
Police in O’Fallon described the suspect as a black male, 30 to 40 years old, 6 feet tall and approximately 250 pounds, wearing a dark jacket, a mask covering his mouth, a ball cap and blue jeans.
A similar description was given in the robbery reported Oct. 13 at Regions Bank in Lebanon. Roth said at the time that the suspect was described as a black male, either 6-foot-1 or 6-2, weighing approximately 220 pounds and wearing a mask covering his mouth and a ball cap. Police said he had a silver handgun and fled in a blue SUV. A surveillance image released by Lebanon Police in October showed that the vehicle had a missing rear hub cap on the driver’s side.
Both the Lebanon robbery and the O’Fallon robbery happened about 1 p.m. on a Thursday.
Roth said police hadn’t made any arrests as of Friday in the Lebanon robbery.
O’Fallon and Lebanon police departments said investigations into both robberies were ongoing.
Anyone with information about the robberies can contact the O’Fallon Police Department at 618-624-4545, ext. 0, or the Lebanon Police Department at 618-537-6131.
Kaitlyn Schwers: 618-239-2526, @kaitlynschwers
This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Bank robberies in Lebanon and O’Fallon may be linked, police say."