Photo: Robert Waterman (fugitive.com)
CONCORD – A disheveled 72-year-old man was arrested a few minutes after a bank robbery on November 27 in which he peacefully meandered away on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Police officers were dispatched at 2:50 p.m. to investigate a report of a senior citizen robbing a downtown branch of Bank of America.
Responding officers learned that an elderly man had entered the bank at 2020 Willow Pass Road, handed a teller a note demanding money, and then left with the loot without any further incident.
No weapon of any kind was seen—and no one was reported injured after the man simply walked away.
Bank employees and other witnesses provided the police with a detailed description of the suspected bank robber—an old white man, unshaven, with long wispy white hair, and wearing a baseball cap.
Minutes later an officer on the lookout located and detained the suspect, about half mile southeast of the bank, near the intersection of Grant and Oak streets, not far from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train station.
Witnesses positively identified the old man as the perpetrator who committed the bank robbery. The money found with him was returned to the bank.
Officers arrested Concord resident Robert Waterman, who was booked at the Martinez Detention Facility charged with first degree robbery. He remains in custody in lieu of $100,000 bail.
“We would like to thank the brave and wonderful employees and citizens who provided officers with a detailed description of Mr. Waterman. If it weren’t for you Mr. Waterman would still be on the loose,” police said in a prepared statement.
