Preliminary Investigation Report
The initial report disclosed that on the morning of 5th August, the bank manager of Three Points Bank, John Doe, arrived at her usual time of 8.15 a.m. to have the bank ready for opening. He noticed a black Mercedes Benz model E250 with tinted windows parked opposite in an empty parking lot. She brushed off the incident and went on her business. At around 9.07 am, after the doors of the bank were opened and while serving the initial morning customers, a Male Hispanic Man with a heavy accent walked in straight to Counter A and pulled out a semi-automatic gun at the cash registrar, Jane Doe. He shot twice in the air, gave her a black bag pack with loud instructions to empty all the money she and her nearby colleague had in their safe. He grabbed the bag, ran out, hopped in the Black Mercedes and sped off. The whole incident took less than 10 minutes. Witnesses described the suspect to be about 5’8 in height with an average weight of 185lbs. The CCTV footage showed that he as dressed in dark pants, red shirt and a black baseball cap. He also had a blurred tattoo on his neck. The amount stolen was about USD 200,000 Dollars.
Investigations
From the Video footage and witness recounts, the police artist drew a sketch of the suspect and the image, together with the video, was circulated to the local T.V. station. The stations aired it out to the public requesting for any leads that might lead to the capture of the John Doe. On the 8th of August, an anonymous caller to the station reported that he knew the suspect; he claimed that it was his neighbour, Fulano Del Toro. The caller provided the following address for Del Toro, 2300 Las Pepas Dr., Laredo Texas. Immediately, a dispatch team of Two officers and I, were sent to check on the legitimacy of information. We went with an unregistered car and parked a few blocks from the house where we kept watch. Two hours later, we saw a man fitting the suspect’s description, drive to a parking carport next to the house. The car was an E250 Black Mercedes Benz with tinted windows. We ran the number plates in the police data file system and found that the car had been reported stolen a week before.
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"Three Points Bank Robbery with Violence on the 5th August 2017".
Arrest
The stolen car as well as the similarity of the man to our John Doe, gave us Probable cause to conduct a search of the premises. We obtained a signed Search warrant and on the 9th August at 7.00 am we caught the suspect by surprise where we conducted a search of his premise. We found a black bag, fitting our Jane Does description, hidden in a kitchen cabinet. It had some wads of money, which, on counting came to a total of USD 170,000. We took the bag and the car, booked them as evidence and arrested Mr. Fulano for the Three Point Bank robbery.
Booking
On arrival at the Police station, we recorded the arrest of Mr. Fulano. We went ahead and took his fingerprints, photographed a headshot of him and called some of the bank witnesses to identify him in a line up.
Initial Appearance before a Judge
On the 11th August, Mr. Fulano was brought before a judge where he was informed of the charges brought against him and was advised of his or her rights to counsel and to remain silent. He was also informed of the right to have an attorney present and was given reasonable time to consult with his attorney.
Filing of Charges
We contacted the States Prosecuting office for a representative to conduct the criminal charge. Stacey Macmillan, the district attorney, was briefed of the situation. Stacey then served Mr. Fulano with an Indictment with a criminal charge of robbery with violence.
Arraignment
Mr. Fulano, then made an initial appearance in Court where he was given a copy of the charging indictment and the charges were read in open court and a plea opportunity was offered. Mr. Fulano pleaded to the “Not Guilty” plea
Pre-Trial
On 30th August, at Mr. Fulanos bond hearing, the judge released him on a cash bond of USD 20,000. Mr. Fulano also filed for a discovery motion to inspect the video footage of the bank.
Trial
There was a Jury Selection on the 28th of September where Mr. Fulanos criminal attorney and Stacey, the State attorney settled on the Final Jury. The Trial began on the 5th of October and the State provided evidence that linked Mr. Fulano to the crime. I was called to the stand as a witness on the 8th October where I recounted the details that led to the arrest of Fulano. On the 12th, while the trial was ongoing, a neighbour to Fulano discovered a gun wrapped up in a newspaper at the backyard of his garden. Further investigations proved that it was the same gun that was fired at the Bank and it had Mr. Fulanos fingerprints. This was introduced at the trial as new evidence. After the hearing of evidence and cross examination, the Jury came back with a criminal conviction of guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Sentencing
Mr. Fulano was found guilty of the robbery with violence and was sentenced by the Judge to 15 years in prison at the State jail.
