Armed robbers lock employees in vault at bank in Mount Airy

Sherry Youngquist
Media General News Service
Published: July 11, 2008

MOUNT AIRY - Bank employees were locked in the vault while it was robbed yesterday, police said.

Two armed men wearing coveralls and masks walked into the Carter Bank & Trust on Willow Street just as the bank opened at 9 a.m.

One man had a handgun, the other a shotgun. The men demanded money and forced all of the bank employees into the vault, said Detective Rochelle Carter of the Mount Airy Police Department.

“They made them lay down on the floor until they left,” Carter said.

The men took an undisclosed amount of cash, police said. No one was hurt, but the bank employees were rattled.

“The employees were very tore up,” Carter said.

The men are described as 6 feet 3 inches tall, and 5 feet 11 inches tall. One of the men spoke with a foreign accent. Their faces were completely covered by the masks.

At one point, police were looking for a vehicle that might have been connected to the robbery, but detectives said they couldn’t release any details.

This is the second time Carter Bank & Trust has been robbed this year.

On April 1, an unarmed man walked into the bank, demanded money and left with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police arrested Brandon Acord, 18, of Westfield later that day and charged him with common-law robbery.

More than a week later, police arrested Richard D. Maynor, 48, of Mount Airy on a charge of common-law robbery. Police described Maynor as Acord’s accomplice but did not elaborate.

The Elkin Police Department is still looking for a woman involved in an attempted bank robbery June 24. A woman described as being 5 foot 5 inches tall and weighing 250 pounds with medium-length gray, curly hair walked into the BB&T bank on North Bridge Street. She handed a teller a note asking for money, but the teller refused to give her any money. The woman then quickly left.

Yesterday, Carter Bank & Trust in Mount Airy closed for the rest of the day.

“This is by far the worst one they’ve had,” Carter said. “They were very distraught.”

Anyone with any information about the robbery in Mount Airy is asked to call the police department at 336-786-3535. Police ask that anyone with information about the attempted robbery in Elkin call 336-835-9833.

■ Sherry Youngquist can be reached in Mount Airy at 336-789-9338 or at .