Man who robbed Fort Worth bank with threatening note to face federal charges, police say
A man accused of silently robbing a bank in south Fort Worth over the weekend by passing a threatening note to a teller has been arrested and will face charges from the FBI, police announced on Friday.
Michael Banchs, 37, of Arlington, was arrested a little after midnight Thursday on an out-of-town warrant, a police report shows. Earlier in the week, the department put out a call to the public for help identifying the man, who was wearing a black face mask and a white wrist-band when he handed over a note demanding money and stating he had a weapon.
The robbery occurred around 3:40 p.m. Sunday at the First Convenience Bank inside the Kroger store in the 3500 block of Altamesa Boulevard.
Jail records show Banchs is in the Lon Evans Correctional Center on a prohibited substances in a correctional facility charge from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, which carries a $2,500 bond. No robbery charges were listed as of Friday morning.
Buddy Calzada, a police spokesman, told the Star-Telegram he couldn’t comment on the suspect’s current bond but noted he’s being charged with robbery. Also, since the bank is a federal institution, Calzada said, police have been working with an FBI task force that will bring additional charges against him. Those charges could come as soon as later Friday, he said.
Anonymous tips, submitted through social media, helped police piece together his identity, Calzada said. Once police knew who they were looking for, he said, they wanted to serve an arrest warrant as soon as possible.
“We wanted to get him in custody, which is what we did,” Calzada said. “We’ll work on any other charges. There’s no reason to rush it, now that he’s in custody.”
It was unclear, as of Friday, if Banchs in fact had a weapon on him when he committed the robbery. Calzada noted a weapon was recovered when police took him into custody.
Police also didn’t know as of Friday what motivated this robbery at this specific bank, or how long he had been planning it.
“A lot of people, they won’t talk, and so we’ve got to figure it out, all together, and again that’s for us to take our time and investigate,” Calzada said. “Our biggest thing was getting him off the streets.”
