Comments (0) | |

Saturday, Mar. 21, 2009

Arrest warrants issued for suspect in bank burglaries in midstate, Ala.

Bibb County sheriff’s deputies have issued arrest warrants for a man suspected in a series of bank burglaries across the midstate, and in Columbus and east Alabama, according to authorities.

Investigators are looking for 32-year-old Amarti Plunkett of Columbus, Capt. Mike Smallwood said.

Plunkett has a prior federal conviction for bank robbery and was released from prison shortly before a string of similar bank burglaries from Phenix City, Ala., to Middle Georgia began, according to authorities.

Banks in Bibb and Crawford counties were hit last week, including two branches of Atlantic Southern Bank in Roberta and Lizella. The Robins Federal Credit Union at 5999 Zebulon Road was burglarized last Thursday.

The Colonial Bank on Thomaston Road was broken into early last Wednesday morning, and Bibb investigators discovered there had been a rash of about 15 similar bank burglaries in Columbus, Butler and Alabama.

Investigators from the Macon area are working with agencies from here to Phenix City, where the burglaries have been happening since December.

Authorities have said there were similar modes of entry and physical descriptions of the burglar in the incidents.

Bibb County deputies said they recovered a stolen Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and a red gym bag full of tools they believe Plunkett used to conduct the string of burglaries after losing him in a search late last Friday near Harrison Road.

Plunkett was last believed to be in the Phenix City area, authorities said.

He is described as a black male, who is approximately 6 feet 1 inch tall and 173 pounds, according to the release.

The warrants accuse Plunkett of stealing hundreds of dollars in rolled coins from the banks, according to a news release.

This case remains under investigation by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Plunkett is asked to call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 746-9441 or Macon Regional CrimeStoppers at (877) 68-CRIME.

To contact writer Ashley Tusan Joyner, call 744-4347.