$16K Missing From Grand Rapids Bank Holdup
GRAND RAPIDS (AP) - Police recovered about $59,000 stolen from a Grand Rapids area bank and tossed from the window of a getaway rental truck.
An additional $16,000 - snatched up by passers-by before officers could collect it - could not be found, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids.
Adam Jones and his wife, Tammy Jo Jones, were named as suspects in the complaint, The Grand Rapids Press reported. They were to be arraigned Thursday in Kent County Circuit Court.
The couple was arrested Wednesday after leading police in several West Michigan communities on a chase in which handfuls of cash were thrown from the passenger window of the rental truck.
Tammy Jo Jones told investigators she had no money and that's why she "tried to rob a bank," according to the complaint.
Authorities say a man entered the Comerica branch Wednesday morning and at gunpoint told tellers to fill a bag with money. He then locked several bank employees into a vault and fled. The man got on a bike that was left outside the bank and rode it to the waiting rental truck.
Police soon spotted the truck and gave chase at speeds of up to 50 mph.
"At one point, the driver swerved at a Grandville police officer," FBI Special Agent Sean Burns wrote in the complaint. "The driver also caused an accident with a law enforcement vehicle and a citizen. The driver drove on the wrong side of roads to avoid `spike strips' which police deployed in an attempt to end the chase."
Court records did not indicate if the couple had attorneys.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
