Alleged Bank Robber Admits He Would Do It Again
MIAMI (CBS4) - The FBI. says a man involved with three bank robberies in five hours on Thursday would have kept on victimizing banks had he not been arrested.
New details in this case emerged at a hearing in federal court for 53-year-old Reginald Robert Watkins of Northwest Miami-Dade.
An FBI agent said Watkins confessed to borrowing his mother's Silver Mitsubishi Galant from their home and using it on his crime spree.
The agent said Watkins said if he had not been caught, "he'd be out there today committing additional bank robberies."
Watkins told federal magistrate Peter Palermo that he was disabled and had been unemployed since 1997. He also announced in court, "I am already cooperating with the FBI fully."
Watkins told Palermo that he had no money to hire an attorney and asked that the court appoint one for him.
There were no family members at Watkins' first appearance before a federal Judge.
Among other new details that emerged at the bond hearing, Judge Palermo noted that Watkins had a long arrest record for robberies and strong armed robberies and at one point had actually been convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Palermo noted his record dated back to 1977. Records show he was arrested for strong armed robberies in 2003 and 2004.
Watkins is also a military veteran who said he had been treated for two years at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Miami.
Palermo noted that there is "no question he needs help." Watkins was held without bond on pretrial detention as a flight risk. He'll have an arraignment on April 13th.
Watkins was captured by surveillance cameras at all three banks, said the FBI. He was arrested after someone saw his photograph on the news.
He was arrested at 7:45 Thursday night by officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department and members of the South Florida Violent Crime/Fugitive Task Force.
No one was hurt in the crime spree on Thursday.
Watkins used notes---not a weapon to get his cash. In all cases, the FBI said he got in line with other customers and handed notes to tellers.
The FBI said it all started at a Bank of America at 13450 West Dixie Highway in North Miami. An agent testified that Watkins entered the bank at 9 a.m. and handed the teller a note that said, "This is a robbery. This is not funny."
The FBI said Watkins left that bank with no money.
An hour later, at 10 a.m., the F.B.I. said Watkins stopped at a TD Bank at 9005 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami Shores and handed a teller a note that said, "This is a robbery. Give me all of your money." He told the teller not to use a dye pack." The F.B.I. said he got away with $467.
The agent said at 2 p.m., Watkins entered a Bank of America at 175 Hialeah Drive in Hialeah with the most strongly-worded note of the day.
"This is a robbery," that final note said. "Be quiet or you'll get hurt." He also told the teller not to use a dye pack. The F.B.I. said he got away with $2604.
CBS4's Peter D'Oench tried to speak with family members at the home where Watkins lives with his mother. But no one came to the door when he knocked.
The F.B.I. said it was continuing to look for other suspects in an unrelated bank robbery that occurred at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday at the Wells Fargo bank at 15759 Pines Boulevard. There were dramatic developments in that robbery as cash was later found next to the southbound lanes of I-75 in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Anyone with information on that robbery is urged to call the F.B.I. in Miami at (305) 944—9101.
