Man With Cell Phone Helps Nab Suspect

Tue., May 16, 2000

From Staff

A man toting a cellular phone helped police capture a suspected bank robber in less than 15 minutes Monday afternoon.

The Town & Country branch of the Wells Fargo Bank on North Monroe was robbed of an undisclosed sum about 1:45 p.m., Spokane police said. A bank employee told customer Brian Millard that the robber had just left. Millard followed and spotted the man walking away. From his car, Millard followed the man as he walked a block to a pickup, police said.

Millard then tailed the man as he drove off and fed the details of the vehicle and escape route to police over his cellular phone, police said. Police arrested Woodson F. Swindell, 52, less than 15 minutes later.

Swindell carried an Oklahoma driver’s license and had Oklahoma plates on his truck. He was booked into jail on bank robbery. The case is being handled by the FBI.

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