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Red Dye Eases Arrest In Bank Holdup

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 21, 2008

TAMPA — Police needed only five minutes today to find and arrest a man who they said robbed a bank, was marked with red anti-theft dye, then fled the scene on a bicycle.

Stephen Ray Mulligan

Stephen Ray Mulligan, 60, walked into the Regions Bank on 5115 S. Dale Mabry Highway this afternoon and handed the teller a note demanding money, police said. The teller handed Mulligan an undisclosed amount of cash with a dye pack stashed inside.

As Mulligan walked outside, the dye pack went off, staining his hands, arms, white baseball cap, white shirt and blue jeans, police said. Mulligan dropped the money in front of the bank and rode off on his white bicycle, Tampa police Lt. Rocky Ratliff said in a news release.

Exactly five minutes later, officer Thomas Mayo spotted Mulligan — without a shirt — riding westbound in the 3900 block of West Paxton Avenue. Another officer found Mulligan's dye-stained clothing behind a Home Depot west of the bank, Ratliff said.

Mayo arrested Mulligan and witnesses identified him as the man who committed the robbery, police said.

Mulligan was being held today at Orient Road Jail. Booking information was not immediately available.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.

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