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Yet Another Bike Bandit!

John S. Burnett, Associate Editor

What it is about bicycles and bank bandits?


We have reported on two bicycle bandits in recent months. Roswell, Georgia, police announced the arrest Tuesday, January 3, 2008, of another "bike bandit" after his alleged eleventh bank robbery in 2007. Carlos H. Arango-Mejia was first detained without bond at the Roswell Detention Center, and later transported to Grady Memorial Hospital. He told police he had tuberculosis, and doctors were checking him for a collapsed lung.

Arango-Mejia walked away from the hospital, but was quickly caught again, perhaps because he was "running around in a hospital smock and handcuffs," according to a police source.

Police charged Arango-Mejia with holding up a Bank of America office in Roswell in March and July of last year. It is likely that authorities in other Georgia counties -- and those in surrounding states -- will file additional charges. According to sources, Arango-Mejia is believed to have held up at least nine other banks, including his most recent target in South Carolina on December 26.

The suspect used a variety of disguises in the holdups, didn't show a weapon, but gave tellers notes demanding money, and left each bank on a bicycle. Police believe that he peddled to a nearby vehicle to make good his escape.

Roswell police said that good police work and cooperation among local, state and federal authorities, led to their arrest of Arango-Mejia.

First published on BankersOnline.com 1/16/2008

First published on 01/16/2008

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