Bank robbery suspect arrested Thursday

A bank robbery suspect was arrested Thursday by Bloomington Police.

Allegedly, 20-year-old Andrew Gray Switzer, of Bloomington, robbed the Monroe Bank branch inside the Marsh Supermarket at 1825 N. Kinser Pike.

Police said he told bank employees he was an accomplice and “not to do anything crazy.”

He left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

No weapons were shown, and Lt. David Drake of the Bloomington Police said there was no evidence of an accomplice.

At 12:45 p.m. a hold-up alarm from the bank went off and BPD officer Bob Neely arrived on scene within a minute. When he arrived, he received a call saying the bank had been robbed.

The robbery led BPD to ask nearby Arlington Heights Elementary School to lock down.

Witnesses told police the robber was about 5-foot-11, in his early 20s, wearing a toboggan hat and a gray hoodie.

It’s a similar description that was given about a man earlier that morning who looked suspicious standing at United Commerce Bank at 1285 S. College Mall Rd., Drake said.

Witnesses at the United Commerce Bank told police he was about 5’10” and wore blue gloves and sun glasses. A grey hoodie was pulled tightly around his face.
He started to go into the bank, but when another customer walked in, the suspicious man drove away in a white Mercedes, Drake said.

A witness called 911 when he saw police cars at Marsh and then saw a man dodging traffic while running across State Road 46/45. Switzer was arrested shortly after.

Indiana State Police officers chased Switzer across 20th Street to the 1100 block of West 20th Street where the police found Switzer hiding under a shed. He was arrested at about 1 p.m. and refused to answer questions.

BPD Capt. Joe Qualters sent  an e-mail praising the citizens who led to Switzer’s capture.

“In both instances the citizens made the observations and called police to report it rather than talking themselves out of it or, somehow, rationalizing the behavior in their minds and not calling,” Qualters said in an e-mail.

Switzer was arrested on preliminary charges of robbery, a class C felony. He is being held in Monroe County Correctional Center without bond on a parole hold.

Police found the exact amount of cash missing from Marsh in Switzer’s pockets. Police also found a white Mercedes in a corner of the Marsh parking lot. Blue gloves were clearly visible.

Police took the car to a secure storage facility to be searched after a warrant was granted.

Despite his relative youth, it was not Switzer’s first run-in with the law.

Switzer was still on probation for a Monroe County burglary he pled guilty to in 2008. According to an Aug. 20, 2008 Herald-Times article, he and two accomplices stole guns from a Monroe County home.

In a separate incident, news reports, including one from the Herald-Times, tell how Switzer led police in Wisconsin on a high speed chase on Aug. 17, 2008 after he allegedly drove off without paying for gas.

Police let out spike strips, which deflated Switzer’s tires. Police then forced his car off the road, and Switzer successfully fled from police.

The next morning, Switzer led Wisconsin police on another chase in a stolen construction pick-up truck. He overturned the truck, ran away and was found hiding in some foliage.

— Nick Cusack