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OCALA, Fla. – An Ocala woman arrested Saturday during a traffic stop is accused of robbing a bank just minutes earlier, according to police.
Christina Gates Thagard, 40, faces a charge of robbery with a firearm, the Ocala Police Department said in a news release.
Around 9:30 a.m. that day, police responded to the TD Bank along SE 17th Street after a suspect — who was seen on surveillance video wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, a medical mask and a glove on only one hand — passed a note to a teller demanding at least $50,000 in “big bills,” also stating ”I have a gun and will shoot if any alarms or dye packs are inclosed (sic),” investigators said.
The suspect made away with around $5,000, yet they were gone by the time officers arrived to the bank, according to police.
Within 11 minutes, officers located the suspect — identified as Thagard — driving westbound on SW College Road, according to the release. Dashcam video shared by the police department showed Thagard’s arrest, after which she was brought to police headquarters for questioning and, later, to the Marion County Jail, the release states.
A purse with $5,015, a medical mask and a latex glove were among the items found during a search of the vehicle that Thagard was driving, police said. At the time of this report, there had been no mention of a firearm being recovered.
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