Arrest made in string of bank robberies
Horace Johnson, 22, of the Bealeton area, surrendered to police on West Glebe Road near Arlington at about 4 p.m. following the pileup, said Lt. John Crawford, a spokesman for Alexandria police. No one was injured in the accident.
Johnson faces one count of bank robbery in U.S. District Court, with the additional two charges pending, said Chris Murray, an FBI spokesman.
Authorities questioned Johnson at the city’s police station Tuesday afternoon; Crawford said that he will be held in the Alexandria City jail, home of high-profile terrorist suspects John Walker Lindh, Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid.
Police believe Johnson is responsible for robbing Patriot Bank at 9166 Mathis Ave. in Manassas on May 6; First Commerce Bank at 2030 Old Bridge Road on May 11; and First Virginia Bank at 14000 Jefferson Davis Highway on May 15, according to past statements.
Each time, someone matching his description entered the bank with a bag, gave the teller a note indicating a bomb was in the bag and escaped with money. He left a bag in the bank on each occasion, but they never contained explosives.
Johnson was arrested after the FBI received a tip from someone who saw his picture in previous Potomac News articles, said Agent Mike MacLean.
“We received calls based on those stories,” MacLean said. “A caller from Woodbridge saw the picture [captured by a bank security camera] that ran in this paper.”
An FBI agent spotted Johnson in a white Hyundai in Alexandria around 3:50 p.m., Crawford said. He called for city police assistance in making a traffic stop, but when the officers converged on his car, the suspect sped away.
Roughly 10 minutes later, he had been detained at scene of the accident, which occurred at the corner of West Glebe Road and South Glebe Road, Crawford said.