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3 Suspects Arrested In 'Scream' Mask Bank Robbery

Pilot Bank

This person in a "Scream" mask robbed the Pilot Bank branch at 5140 E. Fowler Ave. in Temple Terrace at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

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TONY MARRERO

Published: October 14, 2008

Updated: 10/14/2008 06:07 pm

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County sheriff's deputies arrested today three people they say were involved in Brooksville bank robbery and may be connected to an attempted bank robbery in Temple Terrace.

One of the people taken into custody was recorded on a security camera wearing a Halloween mask from the horror movie "Scream," authorities said.

Arrested were Edward Mitchell, 51; Andre L. Franklin, 36; and Jennifer L. Roberts, 35. All three are from Tampa and are charged with principal to robbery, Hernando sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Black said in a statement.

The trio will be booked in Hernando County Jail after Temple Terrace detectives question them, Black said.

A deputy stopped a silver-blue Mercury Marquis near State Road 50 and WPA Road at 12:53 p.m. The car matched witnesses' descriptions of a vehicle seen in the Brooksville and Temple Terrace robberies, Black said.

Authorities say a masked man entered the Brannen Bank at 14300 Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville at 12:36 p.m., demanded money from a teller and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash in a black bag. The man dropped the cash when a dye pack placed inside the bag exploded.

Coy Viars, 61, was parked in the drive-through lane of the bank at about 12:30 when he saw a man running across the parking lot carrying a bag spewing red smoke.

"I knew as soon as I saw the bag it was a robbery," Viars said.

The man threw the bag over a fence separating the bank property from the back of the Carriage Crossings apartment complex. He scaled the fence and took off running, leaving the bag of money behind.

Viars said he figures the suspect knew at that point the money was a lost cause.

"There was so much smoke pouring out of it I don't think he bothered to pick it up," Viars said.

Viars said he pulled his permitted .44-caliber handgun and drove into the apartment complex. By then the man was gone.

"I would've tried to stop him," he said.

The robber's description matched that of a man using an identical mask who entered the Pilot Bank branch at 5140 E. Fowler Ave. in Temple Terrace at 9:30 a.m.

The man fled without getting any cash.

Tampa Tribune reporters Tom Brennan and Ray Reyes contributed to this report.

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