Two bank employees were kidnapped and later released unharmed during a bank robbery Saturday morning in Sugar Land.
The incident marks the third bank robbery in or near Sugar Land within the past 10 days.
Sugar Land police and the FBI are investigating the Saturday robbery, which happened at about 8 a.m. at a Whitney National Bank branch at 2109 State Highway 6.
A man with a gun approached two bank employees as they were entering the bank, according to a Sugar Land Police Department report, displayed a weapon, forced one of the employees to open a safe, and stole an undisclosed amount of cash.
The robbery kidnapped the two employees as he left the bank. But just before doing so, a bank security camera showed a dye pack activating, covering the suspect with dark red dye.
According to the police report, the robber forced the two bank employees into one of their cars and made them drive him out of the vicinity, where he exited the vehicle.
The two employees were uninjured, according to police, and drove their car back to the bank, where they notified police of the robbery.
The robber was described as a black man about 6 feet tall and weighing about 180 pounds. He had a dark complexion, a goatee and mustache, and was wearing a dark blue or black knit hat, a black and gray hooded jacket, black gloves and dark pants. He was carrying a black “messenger bag,” according to a police report, which also said the dark red dye stained much of his clothing.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact Sugar Land Police Det. Kelly Gless at 281-275-2934, or the Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers tip line at 281-342-8477.
The incident is the latest of three area bank robberies recently.
Sugar Land police arrested a Fort Bend County man early Wednesday and accused him of robbing a Chase Bank branch at 2455 State Highway 6 the day before.
In that case, according to a Sugar Land Police Department report, a man entered the bank at about 9 a.m. Tuesday wearing a stocking cap and glasses, displayed a silver pistol, ordered everyone to get on the ground, and demanded money. He left with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Still at large are two men who robbed a Moody National Bank branch inside a grocery on Dec. 15, tying up employees and stuffing them into a closet before making off with what one law enforcement source said was about $200,000 in cash.
According to a Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department report, two armed men entered the bank inside a Kroger’s at 6425 F.M. 1464, north of Madden Road, at about 10 a.m. Dec. 15.
“The suspects bound two employees behind the back and placed them inside a closet,” a sheriff’s report said. They stole money from the branch, left the store and were seen “leaving at a high rate of speed toward the Houston area in a mid-90s white single-cab Chevrolet pickup truck.”
A sheriff’s department official said surveillance cameras showed the robbers “were fully masked” during the robbery. They both were described as black men about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and about 30 years old, both wearing gray overalls and black caps.
The incident marks the third bank robbery in or near Sugar Land within the past 10 days.
Sugar Land police and the FBI are investigating the Saturday robbery, which happened at about 8 a.m. at a Whitney National Bank branch at 2109 State Highway 6.
A man with a gun approached two bank employees as they were entering the bank, according to a Sugar Land Police Department report, displayed a weapon, forced one of the employees to open a safe, and stole an undisclosed amount of cash.
The robbery kidnapped the two employees as he left the bank. But just before doing so, a bank security camera showed a dye pack activating, covering the suspect with dark red dye.
According to the police report, the robber forced the two bank employees into one of their cars and made them drive him out of the vicinity, where he exited the vehicle.
The two employees were uninjured, according to police, and drove their car back to the bank, where they notified police of the robbery.
