LAKELAND, Fla. – The Polk County Sheriff's Office has arrested a 66-year-old man suspected of bank robbery.
Deputies said Vaughn Howard, 66, of 3992 Laurel Crest Drive in Mulberry, has been charged with solicitation to commit robbery, and robbery.
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The suspect was seen handing a teller at Centerstate Bank, 4719 S. Florida Ave., in Lakeland a note that said, "Give me all of your 100s, 50s 20s. I am armed. This is not joke. No alarms" and also said something like "I'll shoot." deputies said.
Howard began yelling at the teller to hurry up and to give the note back to him. The teller gave the suspect all of the $100s, $50s, and $20s, which were in her drawer. He then ran out of the bank in an unknown direction, authorities said.
Sheriff's deputies, using bank surveillance video, were able to get information about the car that Howard used.
Two leads came into the sheriff's office identifying Howard. The second, an acquaintance of Howard's, provided a sworn recorded statement that Howard approached him to drive the getaway car while he robbed the bank. He thought Howard was serious, deputies said.
Sheriff deputies said another witness told deputies that Howard to her that he had robbed a bank and wanted her to drive the getaway car on future bank robberies.
On Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff's Office robbery detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Howard and took him into custody without incident. He remains in the Polk County Jail on no bond. His first appearance is at 1 p.m. Thursday.