A Baltimore County man is being held without bond in Fairfax County's Adult Detention Center after being arrested and charged with three bank robberies. The most recent one was last Friday, Jan. 9, at the Centreville Bank of America.
Police say a man walked into that bank, at 14122 Lee Highway in the Newgate Shopping Center, around 1 p.m., and showed the teller a note demanding money. According to police, the man implied that he had a gun, and the teller complied with his request.
A lookout was broadcast, and a detective working a previous bank robbery advised officers to keep an eye peeled for the GMC Safari used in that offense, since the suspect descriptions in both robberies were similar. An officer from the Sully District Station then saw this vehicle on I-66 west and activated her cruiser's emergency equipment.
Police reportedly identified the driver as William Paul Craig, 34, of 7424 Rossville Blvd. in Roseland, Md. An immediate investigation by police and the FBI led to his arrest. Police charged him with the Bank of America robbery, as well as with the Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 robberies that occurred at two BB&T bank branches.
The Dec. 26 incident was at the BB&T in the Fairfax Towne Center shopping center, off West Ox Road in Fair Oaks. Police say a man entered that bank, around 1:30 p.m., indicated that he had a weapon and demanded money from one of the tellers, a 54-year-old Manassas woman.
She handed him the cash, and he fled in an unknown direction. The suspect was described as white, 35-40, about 6 feet and weighing about 240 pounds. He had salt-and-pepper hair and a beard and was wearing sunglasses.
The Jan. 2 robbery happened in the North Point Village Center shopping center in Reston. A man entered the bank, around 1 p.m., implied that he had a weapon and demanded money from one of the tellers, a 40-year-old Reston woman. After she relinquished the funds, he drove away in a maroon, Chevrolet Astro van.
The suspect was described as white, in his 30s, about 6 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 3 inches and weighing some 230 pounds. He had brown hair and a light beard and wore sunglasses.
All three robberies were on Fridays, around 1 or 1:30 p.m., and the banks struck were in shopping centers. Craig has a March 2 court date and, if convicted, he could receive anywhere from five years to life in prison for each charge.