OCALA, Fla. – An Ocala woman who used to be a Marion County sheriff’s deputy was arrested Saturday during a traffic stop on allegations of robbing a bank just minutes earlier, according to police.
Christina Gates Thagard, 40, faces a charge of robbery with a firearm, the Ocala Police Department said in a news release.
[Watch video below to see police make arrest]
Thagard was previously employed by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy, the agency confirmed Monday morning. She was last employed by MCSO in April 2016, officials said.
Around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, police responded to the TD Bank along SE 17th Street after a suspect — who was seen on surveillance video wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, a medical mask and a glove on only one hand — passed a note to a teller demanding at least $50,000 in “big bills.” The assailant also stated, ”I have a gun and will shoot if any alarms or dye packs are inclosed (sic)," investigators said.
The suspect left the bank with about $5,000 and was gone by the time officers arrived to the bank, according to police.
Within 11 minutes, officers located the suspect — identified as Thagard — driving west on SW College Road, according to the release.
See the full dashcam video below:
Dashcam video shared by the police department showed Thagard’s arrest, after which she was taken to police headquarters for questioning and, later, to the Marion County Jail, the release states.
A purse with $5,015, a medical mask and a latex glove were among the items found during a search of the vehicle that Thagard was driving, police said.
Police said they have not yet located a firearm.