A bank robber overcame having locked the keys in his getaway car southwest of Duluth only to be caught after being pulled over for a second time as he drew closer to the Twin Cities, authorities said.
Moshood Itabiyi, 22, of Coon Rapids, was charged Friday in Carlton County District Court with first-degree aggravated robbery and third-degree burglary in the stickup Thursday afternoon of the Northview Bank branch in Barnum. Itabiyi posted bond and has another court date next week.
According to the Carlton County Sheriff's Office:
Itabiyi brandished what appeared to be a handgun and demanded money from a teller before fleeing.
Soon after someone at the bank called 911, a Moose Lake police officer stopped Itabiyi in a car along southbound Interstate 35 for a traffic violation.
However, Itabiyi was then free to continue, the Sheriff's Office explained, because "there was no available identifying information to lead the officer to believe" that he had stopped the suspected bank robber.
Once authorities had gathered specific descriptive information from the robbery, including the suspect's vehicle, deputies farther to the south in Pine County stopped and apprehended Itabiyi on I-35.
Once in the Carlton County jail, Itabiyi told investigators he had locked the keys in his getaway car, prompting him to break into a nearby residential garage for a hammer, which he used to bust out a window and resume his dash toward the Twin Cities.
Copyright 2014 - Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service