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By Carey Phillips
A man making "terroristic threats" and saying he had
a bomb robbed Central Carolina Bank in downtown Sylva of an undisclosed
amount of money Monday.
No arrests had been made as of Herald press time Tuesday morning.
Bank security cameras captured a picture of the suspect, who was
described as a white male about 45-50 years old, 6 feet tall and
weighing 200 pounds. He had a thick black mustache and gray stubble
and was wearing small rimmed glasses.
Police Chief Jeff Jamison said the robbery was reported at 12:20
p.m., but the incident actually started more than 30 minutes earlier
at 11:47 a.m.
An arrow points to the man suspected of robbing Central Carolina
Bank of an undisclosed amount of money Monday. This image is from
a bank security camera.
Jamison said the man entered the bank and asked
to see the manager.
"When he went into the manager's office, he started making
some terroristic threats toward the manager saying he had a bomb
and demanding the manager give him money," Jamison said.
The man said he wanted money from the vault, but the employee
with the vault keys was not there at the time, according to Jamison.
The man then demanded, and was given, money from the cash drawers,
the chief said. No bank customers were aware of what was happening
until after the man had left the bank, according to Jamison.
While no weapon was displayed, the man told the manager he had
a gun and said an object covered with duct tape was a bomb, Jamison
said.
The bank was closed the rest of the day and reopened Tuesday morning.
CCB's Cope Creek branch was also closed for a short time Monday
afternoon.
"Part of the threats involved that bank," Jamison said.
"It was closed for a short period of time until we were sure
everything was OK there."
Shortly after the incident was reported, officers detained a man
at McDonald's who matched the description of someone seen leaving
the area. Jamison said it was quickly determined he was not the
suspect.
Another lead involving a man in a red car with two other people
also failed to pan out, the chief said.
Jamison expressed appreciation to officers with the Jackson County
Sheriff's Office for providing assistance.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been called in to work
on the case. That agency has the video from the bank security
camera and may be able to obtain a higher quality picture, Jamison
said.
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