SUWANNEE COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - The Suwannee County Sheriff's Office says the community was instrumental in helping them arrest a 64-year-old bank robber Friday.
Around 1:12 p.m. on Friday, SCSO got a call from an employee of Lafayette State Bank, located in Branford who told them the bank had just been robbed.
The employee said that suspect was an older white male who ran away from the bank, got into a white Ford F-150 pickup truck that was parked nearby and drove away.
Not long after, deputies say they got a call from a bank customer who said he was following the suspect’s truck. They say the man relayed its location to the dispatcher until he lost sight of it.
When deputies arrived in the area the truck was last spotted, several residents told them they had seen the truck nearby.
About 10 minutes after the initial call, a deputy found the truck on 274th Street. When the suspect saw the deputy, he tried to run away again. Suwannee County deputies say he didn't get far before he was detained.
Deputies say the man tried to hide his identity by taking off the hat and shirt he was wearing during the robbery, but those items were soon found along with the money that was stolen.
The suspect, Thomas Joseph Foley, 64, of Fort White, Florida was identified by witnesses and was transported to the Suwannee County Jail.
SCSO says the incident is an example of "community and law enforcement working together to keep Suwannee County safe."
