Bank heist suspect arrested in Mass.

Daniel Kittredge
Posted 10/8/15

A Massachusetts man is in custody after being identified as the suspect in a Cranston bank robbery last week.

Ailton Vaz, 25, of 305 Mill St. in New Bedford, was arrested without incident Oct. 1 …

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Bank heist suspect arrested in Mass.

Posted

A Massachusetts man is in custody after being identified as the suspect in a Cranston bank robbery last week.

Ailton Vaz, 25, of 305 Mill St. in New Bedford, was arrested without incident Oct. 1 at the Town and Country Motel on Fall River Avenue in Seekonk, according to police. He is currently being held in Massachusetts as a fugitive from justice based on a charge of first-degree robbery in connection with the heist, and is due to be arraigned in Third District Court in Warwick once extradited.

The robbery occurred at the Bank of America branch at 1000 Park Ave. shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 30. The suspect is said to have handed a teller a note demanding that she empty the cash out of the register and threatening to shoot her. Police said he kept one hand in his pocket, leading the teller to believe he was potentially armed. The suspect fled the scene on foot with a few hundred dollars in cash.

Police said that within hours of the robbery, tips received in response to video surveillance images of the suspect shared through social and news media led to the identification of Vaz as the suspect. Cranston detectives then determined Vaz was at the Seekonk motel, and executed the arrest alongside police from that community.

The detectives “located fruits of the crime in the motel room,” police said, including currency, clothing worn during the robbery, and a notepad .

“The success of this investigation came in large part from the hard work of the collaborating agencies as well as the exposure offered by electronic and social media following the crime,” Cranston Chief of Police Michael Winquist said through a statement. “In this case, the power of traditional and social media, along with determined effort of the investigating detectives, quickly uncovered the identity of the bank robber and enabled this crime to be solved in a very swift and peaceful manner.”

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