Bank robbery suspect nabbed in Hattiesburg, ‘no doubt’ hit branch there

Published 12:00 am Saturday, December 20, 2008

The man suspected of robbing a Vicksburg bank Thursday afternoon was arrested Friday night at a Hattiesburg hotel, said Vicksburg Police Lt. Bobby Stewart. 

Timothy Gandy, 41, 11352 Mississippi 21, Forest, was arrested by Hattiesburg police and Mississippi Bureau of Investigations agents. He had been identified Thursday from surveillance tapes at the BancorpSouth at Indiana Avenue and South Frontage Road, and Stewart said there is “no doubt” he also robbed a BancorpSouth in Hattiesburg Wednesday.

“I’ve watched video from both robberies, and there are comparisons all the way down to his shoes. He was wearing almost identical clothing in both robberies,” said Stewart.

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The Hattiesburg robbery occurred at Westwood Mall at 11:50 a.m., and the one in Vicksburg at 12:13 the following afternoon. The man produced a gun to a teller in both and demanded money, then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. Stewart did not know if any money was recovered during Friday’s arrest, which took place around 8:45 p.m.

“I don’t have the exact location or details on the arrest, and I was told we would have more details tonight or tomorrow,” Stewart said Friday night.

It was not known where Gandy was being held Friday night, and a person who answered the phone at the Forrest County Jail said his name was not on record there.

Vicksburg police and dogs searched the woods off South Frontage Road for about 30 minutes following Thursday’s robbery. No employees or customers were injured in the bank robbery, which was the fourth in Vicksburg and Warren County this year.

On Jan. 30, the Trustmark Bank branch at 3406 Halls Ferry Road was robbed. Kevin Dale McCain, 48, 406 W. 7th Ave., 9B, Petal, was indicted in May by a Warren County grand jury for that heist. If convicted, McCain faces a possible 10-year sentence.

McCain remains in the Warren County Jail on that charge and is being held for Texas authorities on a charge stemming from a Jan. 25 bank robbery in Marshall, Stewart said. McCain has also been linked to an attempted bank robbery Jan. 28 in Bossier City, La., and faced a federal probation violation charge from a previous case.

A second bank robbery occurred at BancorpSouth, 3312 Pemberton Square Blvd., on May 5. A Pennsylvania couple was arrested and charged for that by the FBI, which is prosecuting the case, Stewart said.

Jarrod Darnell Smith, 36, 1509 Mauch Chunk Road, Allentown, and his wife, Shonda, no age available, have been charged by the FBI with seven counts of bank robbery in Mississippi and Pennsylvania.

In the county, the Britton and Koontz bank branch at 2059 U.S. 61 was robbed March 20. No suspects have been identified in that holdup, which also caused a 40-minute precautionary lockdown at nearby Sherman Avenue Elementary School as officers searched the woods nearby.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com.