Suspect in bank-robbery spree charged in federal court
By Teresa Auch Schultz Sun-Times Media February 16, 2012 9:36PM
Bank surveillance photos show a man who is believed to have robbed banks in Lansing, Ill.; Munster, Ind.; South Bend, Ind.; and an armed robbery in Toledo, Ohio. | Photos courtesy of the FBI
Updated: March 18, 2012 8:23AM
A Michigan man arrested in Kentucky a week ago in connection with a Lansing bank robbery and six others in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky has been charged in federal court in Hammond with two of the holdups.
Beaver B. Russell, 47, of Benton Harbor, Mich., was charged Wednesday with two counts of bank robbery for a Jan. 12 holdup at a Fifth Third Bank in Munster and a Jan. 5 bank robbery in South Bend, Ind.
The FBI said Russell is expected to be charged with the other bank robberies, including one at the US Bank branch in Lansing on Jan. 9.
He’s also suspected of snatching purses from five people at four locations in Northwest Indiana and the armed robbery of a student at Kaplan College in Hammond, all since Dec. 18, according to the FBI.
It said Russell apparently stole the purses after driving up to women as they were walking, and in one of the incidents, at a casino in Michigan City, a woman suffered a brain injury when she was pulled against Russell’s vehicle and fell while he drove away.
Authorities said Russell was arrested after he robbed two banks in Kentucky on Feb. 9 and was pursued by police, flipping his car several times as he tried to escape.
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