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 Sheriffs
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.