A man suspected of robbing an East Lansing bank Thursday is in police custody, East Lansing police Capt. Tom Johnstone said.
At about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, an unidentified man entered a Bank of America branch at 1390 W. Lake Lansing Road, told the teller, “This is bank robbery,” and demanded money.
Johnstone said the suspect fled on foot heading north, where he got into a vehicle and left the scene. A vehicle description was given out among local police departments, and an officer from the St. Johns Police Department apprehended the suspect on US-127 near the border of Gratiot County, Johnstone said.
The suspect is being held in the East Lansing Police Department jail and the department expects to send charges to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, Johnston said.
The identity of the suspect has not been released.
According to a press release from the East Lansing Police Department, the senior bank teller at Bank of America recognized the suspect from photos of a different bank robbery.
However, Johnstone said police are not certain the suspect in this robbery is connected to any previous robberies in the area.
“There are very similar circumstances: the method of operation is the same, the description is similar in several robberies, but those robberies take place over several jurisdictions,” Johnstone said. “Before anyone is tried for those robberies, there will need to be an investigation over multiple agencies.”
Area police departments, the East Lansing police and the FBI are working together on an investigation of all of the robberies.
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