Mattoon Police Release Details on Bank Robbery that DIDN'T Happen

(A PHOTO OF THE BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT)

Mattoon police have released information on a bank robbery that DIDN'T happen there a week ago.

On Friday afternoon, May 31, Mattoon police were dispatched to the Wood Forest Bank within the Mattoon Walmart on Dettro Drive. A bank employee noticed a suspect within Walmart that matched the description of a suspect that had robbed the Wood Forest Bank in Shelbyville, Indiana earlier that day. The suspect was standing near cash registers while observing bank employees. A bank employee made eye contact with the suspect and recognized him as the suspect since all member banks had been sent photographs of the suspect.

The bank contacted Mattoon police and while officers were en route, they were somehow advised that the bank in Mattoon was actually being robbed. That led to several police units being dispatched to the scene.

After things were sorted out, it was determined that the suspect had left Walmart one minute before police were dispatched to the scene. The original report to which police responded was that the suspect was inside the Walmart.

Area police checked all banks within Mattoon, but the suspect was not seen at any other location. Due to uncertainty as to whether the suspect might be local, police refrained from issuing a press release earlier about the incident.

Contact with Indiana authorities uncovered that the suspect had allegedly robbed a bank in North Carolina and two in Tennessee prior to the holdup at the Indiana bank.

Mattoon police are ending their involvement with the incident, but would like to hear from anyone who might have had contact with the suspect.