Tracker in cash leads to bank-heist suspect

Police officers take a suspect into custody in Hot Springs after a bank robbery Friday at Simmons First Bank on Grand Avenue.
Police officers take a suspect into custody in Hot Springs after a bank robbery Friday at Simmons First Bank on Grand Avenue.

HOT SPRINGS -- A GPS tracker embedded in money led Hot Springs police and Garland County sheriff's deputies and investigators to a man suspected of robbing Simmons First Bank on Friday afternoon and leaving behind a fake bomb.

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Richard Gale Cotton, 48, was taken into custody after the GPS tracker was traced to a 1997 Toyota Camry, which was swarmed by officers on Broadway near Malvern Avenue shortly after the robbery.

Cotton was charged with aggravated robbery, a felony punishable by up to life in prison, theft of property of more than $1,000 by force and use of a hoax substance. He was being held without bail.

A woman in Cotton's vehicle, which was surrounded by officers with guns drawn, was handcuffed and questioned but later released.

According to a news release from police, a man entered Simmons Bank about 2:10 p.m. and approached a teller. He handed the teller a note that said he had a bomb in his backpack and demanded money.

The teller complied with the demand and gave the robber the cash. A GPS tracker was embedded in the money and alerted police to the location of the money after the robber fled, leaving his backpack behind.

Officers responded to the scene and evacuated the bank while other officers, assisted by sheriff's investigators and deputies, went to the location of the tracker.

The vehicle was located and the white Camry was stopped.

The Arkansas State Police's bomb squad arrived at the bank, and after examining the backpack, determined there were no explosives inside. No one was injured in the robbery.

State Desk on 04/30/2016

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