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Suspects sought in Avon Park bank robbery

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Surveillance footage from Avon Park's SunTrust Bank branch show a man brandishing a weapon and demanding money Tuesday morning. Two robbers made off with an undisclosed amount of money and are still at large.

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Published: July 28, 2009

Updated: 07/28/2009 04:31 pm

AVON PARK - Investigators continue to search for the two armed men who robbed the Avon Park Sun Trust Bank branch Tuesday morning.

Around 9:45, two men came in carrying weapons and took control of the bank before making off with an undisclosed amount of money, according to Avon Park Police Cmdr. Mike Rowan.

Stills taken from the bank's surveillance footage show both men wearing sunglasses and black ball caps. One is pointing a semi-automatic pistol while the other is holding a revolver.

Rowan described the robbers as having dark complexions since it was hard to tell if they were black or Hispanic. There were no shots fired inside the bank and no injuries were reported.

The commander said there was one customer inside at the time of the robbery.

Within minutes, Avon Park police and Highlands County Sheriff's deputies set up perimeters around the bank, located at 601 U.S. Hwy 27, and the adjacent streets.

Dispatchers radioed to authorities that the two men were heading on foot toward Lemon Tree Apartments off Bell Street.

K-9 units were used in the search, but the men were not found. Rowan thinks they got into a car and fled.

Bill Ford was in the bank parking lot and washing the manager's car when he saw a man in a plaid shirt walking toward SunTrust. He is convinced it was one of the robbers and that the man was "casing" the area.

In the surveillance footage, the man holding the semi-automatic was wearing a plaid shirt.

"Good thing I'm not a cop," Ford said. "It looked like he was waiting around for something."

He said it was just a few minutes later that someone came outside and said the bank had been robbed.

"I never saw anybody leave," Ford said.

This is the second Avon Park bank to be struck in the last three months. On April 14, a man robbed Heartland National Bank by passing a teller a handwritten note.

Anyone with information about Tuesday's robbery is asked to call Avon Park Police Detective Sgt. Jason Lister at 453-6622.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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