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Anchorage Police Department officers responded to a bank robbery alarm at the Eagle River branch of Wells Fargo Bank Friday. After securing the perimeter, it was determined that the a teller misinterpreted a customerÕs intention and sounded the alarm.
Star Photo By DARRELL L. BREESE
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Anchorage Police Department officers took a Birchwood man into custody Friday after they responded to a bank robbery alarm at the Eagle River branch of Wells Fargo Bank.
The situation turned out to be nothing more than a misunderstanding by a bank teller.
The original call came in to APD dispatch a little after noon. Officers responded from Anchorage to the report that a black male wearing a black hooded jacket was behaving suspiciously in the bank lobby.
The initial report indicated the man approached the teller and handed her a note demanding money, said APD spokeswoman Anita Shell.
“There was also a report of a Hispanic man, who entered the bank with the suspect,” Shell said on Friday. “But he left before the suspect approached the teller. Someone also told dispatch they had seen a weapon on one of the men.”
In addition to surrounding the bank, officers from the APD K-9 unit began tracking the Hispanic man. An off-duty federal agent who was in the bank at the time of the incident assisted APD officers, Shell said.
Officers also began tracking the whereabouts of a black Dodge Magnum, reportedly driven by a woman and suspected to be the getaway vehicle.
Officers determined the vehicle was registered to a resident of the Birchwood Mobile Home Park, Shell said. After responding to the residence, two additional individuals were detained and questioned.
But in the end, no arrests were made as a miscommunication occurred somewhere in the process, said FBI officials.
“There was no bank robbery,” said FBI spokesman Eric Gonzales. “A man entered the bank and he was intoxicated and there was some confusion as to his intent, but there was no bank robbery.”
“It all turned out to be a bank robbery that wasn't,” Shell said. “There was a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding happening.”
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Anchorage Police Department officers position themselves at the entrance to Wells Fargo Bank after a teller sounded the alarm Friday. An investigation determined there was no robbery.
Star Photo By DARRELL L. BREESE
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Once responding officers apprehended the initial suspect, the story began to unravel, Shell said.
“According to the reports from the responding officers, the man entered the bank to withdraw some money from his account,” she said. “But he didn't want to say his account number or how much money he wanted to withdraw, so he wrote it on a piece of paper and handed it to the clerk.”
The clerk mistook the man's action as an attempted robbery. She handed over $1,800 and sounded the alarm, Shell said.
In addition to the man passing the note, witnesses observed him to be behaving strangely.
“The clerk reported he walked into the glass next to the door when he was leaving,” Shell said. “But once he was taken into custody, officers discovered he was intoxicated and legally blind.”
As for the other suspects, they fled because they were frightened, Shell said.
“Once the officers started arriving with their guns drawn, they left,” she said. “Once they were questioned, they confirmed the initial suspect's intent was to withdraw money from his account and the matter was resolved.”
The man returned the excess money he was given by the teller and he was released after officers determined his intention was just to take some money out of his account and the teller overreacted, Shell said.
Reach the reporter at darrell.breese@alaskastar.com.
