Like the recent "cell-phone" bank robber and her accomplice, the men believed responsible for the recent string of local bank robberies got away with their crimes for awhile.
They even robbed five banks — one more than the aforementioned Candace Martinez and Dave Williams did. But just as in that case, they were eventually apprehended.
MARTINEZ and Williams are now in federal prison, each serving 12-year terms, and the duo accused of the latest bank robberies is in police custody. They are Geoffrey Rogers, 41, of 2805 Washington St., Paducah, Ky., and Ronald Young, 35, of 8668 Burton Parrish Court, No. 204, in Manassas.
"Rogers is believed to be the bank robber, and Young, the getaway-car driver," said Fairfax County police spokesman Rich Henry. Officer Beth Funston said further investigation led to them being developed as suspects and "a detainer has been served on them" at Prince William County's jail.
That's because police there arrested them April 16 after they allegedly carjacked the owner of an SUV on Sudley Road in Manassas. Relatives of the owner immediately contacted police, who pursued Rogers and Young until Rogers reportedly crashed the vehicle.
Prince William police captured them shortly afterward and charged them in connection with that incident. But at some point, they'll be transferred to Fairfax and Loudoun counties to answer to bank-robbery charges. And Fairfax police say they've already allegedly admitted to committing these robberies.
They're suspected of robbing the following banks:
* March 17 - 10:30 a.m., United Bank, 13060 Fair Lakes Shopping Center in Fairfax.
* March 28 - 1:44 p.m., BB&T Bank, 13821 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy. in Chantilly.
* March 30 - 10:30 a.m., Virginia Commerce Bank, 13881 Metrotech Drive in Chantilly.
* March 30 - 11:38 a.m., BB&T Bank, 43365 Junction Plaza in Ashburn.
* March 30 - 1:03 p.m., Provident Bank, 46910 Community Plaza in Sterling.
In each instance, bank employees at first mistook the robber — believed to be Rogers — for a customer, until he told them, "This is a robbery." Police said he didn't make threats or brandish a gun, and he wore a "nice watch [and] sunglasses on top of his head" during the heists.
Police didn't reveal the relationship between the two men, nor why Rogers was in Virginia. But Fairfax County police Det. Gary Bailey presented some details of the bank-robbery cases against them in an April 24 affidavit for a warrant to search Rogers' car, a 2000 Toyota Camry.
BAILEY, with the robbery section of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, described the March 17 offense at United Bank in Fair Lakes, as well as the March 28 robbery at BB&T. While investigating the latter heist, he wrote, "Witnesses advised that they saw two white males sitting in a red, four-door sedan prior to the incident."
After the March 30 robbery at Virginia Commerce Bank, wrote the detective, a dye pack in the money the robber received went off as he fled. And, he added, "The subject was seen running from the area."
Later that day, two more banks were robbed — this time, in Loudoun County. Wrote Bailey: "Surveillance photographs [of the robber] from all five banks were compared and appear to be the same individual."
Police continued to investigate the serial robberies and, they say, the trail allegedly led to Rogers and Young. They eventually connected Rogers to a red Toyota Camry with Kentucky license plates that had been recently abandoned at Dulles International Airport.
Police Det. Stephen Needels contacted the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department and gave it a lookout for this vehicle. Within about two hours, Needels was advised that the car had been found in a daily parking garage. He then went to the site and had the Camry impounded and towed to a police facility in Fairfax County.
Bailey interviewed both Rogers and Young and, he wrote, "They both confessed to their respective involvement in the robberies. Young admitted to driving the red Toyota Camry to and from the robberies within Fairfax County."
The detective stated that Rogers reportedly told him he'd ridden in that car to and from these robberies and, indeed, is the vehicle's registered owner. Added Bailey: "Rogers also confessed to robbing each of the banks in Fairfax County."
In requesting a search warrant for the Camry, Bailey wrote that he hoped to find records and documents from BB&T or United Bank, as well as U.S. currency, a brown jacket, dark knit hat and jeans.