Man arraigned, bail set in robbery at Monroe bank

1/28/2012

MONROE -- Bail was set at $250,000 Friday for a man accused of robbing a Bank of America branch earlier in the week, authorities said.

Michael Bartman, 24, was arraigned in Monroe County District Court on a bank robbery charge.

He was ordered held in lieu of bond at the Monroe County jail pending a pretrial hearing at a later date, Monroe police Sgt. Richard Ohanesian said.

Monroe police said they were acting on a tip when they arrested the man without incident in the 1000 block of East Fourth Street about 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

The bank at 602 S. Monroe St. was robbed about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday by a man who handed a teller a note demanding money. He appeared to be unarmed and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. Monroe Middle School and St. John the Baptist Elementary were put on lockdowns, authorities said.

The suspect, who is from the Monroe area, matched the description obtained from images on the bank surveillance camera. At the time of the arrest, he had with him a small amount of what was suspected to be heroin as well as cash that authorities believe was the bank's and was unarmed, police said.