PRESS RELEASE: Arrest of Dekalb County Bank Robber, Benjamin Rivers

FBI Atlanta
May 14, 2012

Special Agent Stephen Emmett
(404) 679-6451

Arrest of Dekalb County Bank Robber

ATLANTA—Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Brian D. Lamkin, along with Dekalb County Police Chief W. O’Brien, announces the following arrest at Dekalb County, Georgia:

Benjamin Rivers, age 33 of Stone Mountain, was arrested without incident by officers of the Dekalb County Police Department on state charges related to a series of bank robberies in Dekalb County. Rivers was taken into custody over the weekend after numerous tips from the public poured in through Crime Stoppers.

Beginning on July 11, 2011, at the Wells Fargo Bank, located at 1815 Rockbridge Road in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a serial bank robber began targeting banks in Dekalb County. To date, this individual is believed by law enforcement authorities to be responsible for seven bank robberies within a very defined area of the county.

Each of these robberies occurred in a similar fashion. Witnesses described a black male suspect wearing a baseball cap entering these banks, waiting in the customer line, and then approaching an open teller window, usually while talking on a cell phone. The robber then presents the teller with a demand note, which threatens a gun. No weapon has been displayed to date, however, in any of these robberies. After receiving money from the teller, the robber flees the bank.

The most recent robbery occurred on Monday May 7, 2012 at approximately 4:07 p.m. A black male suspect wearing a black ball cap approached the teller at the SunTrust Bank located inside the Publix grocery store located at 3870 North Druid Hills Road in Decatur, Georgia. The robber presented a demand note to the teller threatening to shoot the teller.

The seven robberies attributed to this same suspect are as follows:

July 11, 2011: Wells Fargo Bank located at 1815 Rockbridge Rd. in Stone Mountain, Georgia

August 12, 2011: Wells Fargo Bank at 4798 Redan Rd. in Stone Mountain, Georgia

September 3, 2011: Wells Fargo Bank at 6063 Memorial Dr. in Stone Mountain, Georgia

September 16, 2011: SunTrust Bank at 3870 N. Druid Hills Rd. in Decatur, Georgia

October 13, 2011: Wells Fargo Bank at 4798 Redan Rd. in Stone Mountain, Georgia

November 26, 2012: SunTrust Bank at 2075 South Hairston Rd. in Decatur, Georgia

May 7, 2012: SunTrust Bank at 3870 N. Druid Hills Rd. in Decatur, Georgia

The public is reminded that the above are merely allegations and that all persons are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.