Grocery bandit to be tried in Ohio

EVANSVILLE -- A man authorities suspect of holding up 43 grocery store bank branches in six states agreed during an initial court appearance Wednesday to be transferred to Cincinnati, where he has been charged in one of the robberies.\nIn a hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young, David Brankle waived his right to a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing in Evansville. Young then ordered Brankle transferred to the Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati.\nBrankle, who was arrested Dec. 31 in Vincennes in southwestern Indiana, is charged in a Feb. 28 hold-up at a U.S. Bank branch inside a Meijer store in Cincinnati.\nThe FBI said investigators believe Brankle is the robber authorities have dubbed the Interstate Bank Mart Bandit, who hit his targets with efficient speed, obtaining cash and leaving in less than a minute and making his getaways on freeways within moments.\nBrankle is suspected in a two-year spree of robberies targeting 43 banks near interstate highways in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Florida, the FBI said.\nHowever, police have said Brankle gave a statement confessing to about 50 robberies in those states as well as Illinois.\nBrankle, 47, of Vincennes, was held in the Knox County Jail on $500,000 bond before Wednesday's court appearance. He had been held there on five counts of robbing supermarket bank branches in the Louisville, Ky., area.\nIn Indiana, Brankle also is suspected of hitting banks in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, South Bend, Michigan City and Lafayette. Authorities said he usually picked banks along Interstates 65, 69 or 465 or the Indiana Toll Road.\nInvestigators have said the robber usually faked having a gun and threatened violence if he was not given money. FBI agents believe he had an accomplice.