Bank Holdup Suspect Jailed

Bank Holdup Suspect Jailed

Nineteen-year-old Charles Duty of Ann Arbor, charged earlier this year with fraud, was arraigned Friday afternoon in connection with the robbery of a campus branch bank Tuesday.

Ann Arbor Police arrested Duty Friday afternoon, and Judge Pieter G. V. Thomassen set a $25,000 bond at Duty’s arraignment in the 15th District Court. Duty failed to post bond and was lodged in the County Jail.

Duty is accused, of robbing the Huron Valley National Bank at 777 N. University Ave. near the U-M Diag Tuesday. Police said they were told that an overweight man walked into the bank shortly before 2 p.m. and handed a teller a note announcing a holdup. One witness described the bandit as a “very smooth operator.” No weapon was seen, police said, but the teller handed the robber about $995. The holdup man then casually walked out of the bank, police said.

Alerted by the teller as soon as the bandit left, the bank manager dashed out in pursuit and caught up with him on the Diag near Angell Hall, according to an eyewitness. The manager reportedly tapped the suspect on the shoulder and asked him if he had just been in the bank. The suspect reportedly told the manager to “back off” and indicated he had a gun but the manager told police he did not actually see a weapon.

Duty, whose address could not be determined today, pleaded no contest to a fraud charge in Circuit Court in May. He was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses through checks he received and cashed for unauthorized and unsolicited advertisements.

Duty was the executive manager of the now-defunct Ypsilanti Advisor shopping guide. Duty was free on personal recognizance bond in connection with the fraud charge. A no-contest plea neither admits nor denies guilt, and Duty had been awaiting sentencing on that charge before his arrest Friday in connection with the bank robbery.

Ypsilanti Police arrested him on the fraud charge in March after he was released by the Chelsea Medical Center where he had committed himself as an alcoholic.