Thief takes cash, leaves I.D. behind at city bank

10/7/2004

It didn't take a Sherlock Holmes.

Heck, even a Barney Fife wouldn't have found it a challenge.

Mainly, because it might be called "The Case of the Bumbling Bandit."

A man walked into a Charter One Bank branch in East Toledo yesterday afternoon and left behind a bit more than his image on surveillance videos and fingerprints.

He left a driver's license.

Toledo police returned the favor by issuing an arrest warrant for John Lee Robinson, 42, of 1323 Belmont Ave., charging him with aggravated robbery. He was not in custody last night.

A man entered the branch at 602 Main St. at about 2:20 p.m., set a driver's license down on the tellers' counter, and then wrote a teller a note explaining that he was armed with a gun and wanted money.

After being given $2,525 in cash, the man - sans driver's license - fled in a maroon and gray Ford Taurus station wagon that was parked with a passenger inside near the back of the bank's parking lot.

Witnesses even got the vehicle's license plate number.

"It was good police work," Sgt. Cheryl Hunt said with a laugh when asked about the robbery and the arrest warrant. It was uncertain whether the man would be charged with operating a car without a driver's license.