Benton bank robbery suspect tied to two other holdups, police say

At right, Richard Swicegood is shown in a Saline County booking mug. At left are surveillance photos from robberies of a Benton bank in 2009 and 2011.
At right, Richard Swicegood is shown in a Saline County booking mug. At left are surveillance photos from robberies of a Benton bank in 2009 and 2011.

The man who police say robbed a Summit Bank in Benton at gunpoint Tuesday had held up the same bank on two previous occasions, authorities said Wednesday.

Richard Swicegood, 37, is facing 11 counts of aggravated robbery in the three holdups at the Summit Bank at 1114 Arkansas 35 North in 2009, 2011 and Tuesday. A spokesman for the Benton Police Department said the number of charges reflects the number of people in the bank at the time who Swicegood "directly made threats toward" in the course of the robberies.

In the latest holdup, the robber "displayed a pistol towards a clerk" and fled the scene on foot after getting an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

Swicegood, who lives in Waxahachie, Texas, was arrested Tuesday by Arkansas State Police in Forrest City, the Benton Police Department said. Investigators had received information that the bank robber was driving a red Ford Mustang with Texas plates and that description was sent to police across the state.

A police spokesman said Swicegood was brought back to Benton, where investigators linked him to the two robberies at the same bank in previous years. Benton Police Lt. Kevin Russell added it's unclear why Swicegood targeted the same bank on multiple occasions.

"That's still under investigation at this time," he said.

Swicegood was listed as an inmate in the Saline County jail shortly before noon Wednesday with bail not yet set.

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