NEWS RELEASE                                             

For Immediate Release
December 17, 2007
Contact: Michele Nicholson
Public Information Officer
  (850) 651-7420

STOLEN CAR USED IN ARMED ROBBERY RECOVERED  

     The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office has recovered the getaway car used by two men who robbed an individual outside a Mary Esther bank Monday morning. The car, a black Toyota Corolla, was found on Magnolia Avenue in Fort Walton Beach. It had been reported stolen from the Uptown Station shopping center in Fort Walton Beach on December 12th. The Sheriff's Office is currently processing the car for evidence.

     Before it was stolen last Wednesday, the Corolla had large rust-colored primer spots on it. When discovered today, it had been spray painted a flat-black color.

     The armed robbery took place around 9:25 Monday morning outside the Vanguard Bank at 302 Mary Esther Boulevard. An employee of Strong Armored  Courier Services, a company that services local ATM machines, says after he walked out into the bank parking lot, a white male dressed all in black and wearing a black mask pointed a shotgun at him and took a large amount of cash. Another person was driving the getaway car.

    Anyone who saw a strange car or anything suspicious in the Magnolia Avenue area Monday morning is asked to contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office at 850-651-7400 or Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers at 850-863-TIPS. Investigators would also like to hear from anyone with information on the crime, or on the stolen car that was recently spray-painted black.

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