CMPD: Bank robber used fake bomb in Friday afternoon robbery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police captured a person accused of robbing a PNC Bank in the Dilworth neighborhood Friday afternoon, authorities said.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department initially said it was searching the area for the suspect just after 3 p.m. This happened at the PNC Bank on East Boulevard.

CMPD said late Friday that the suspect made a threat that he had a bomb, showing an employee a device in order to obtain money.

After he had cash from the bank, CMPD says the man ran out of the bank. The department’s helicopter unit spotted the man, who was captured at the Shell gas station at the corner of East Boulevard and Kenilworth Road.

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The suspect, during interviews with detectives, confessed to the crime, CMPD said, and told detectives where he had hidden the device he used. The suspect said it was not a working device, but only made to look like a bomb.

CMPD Bomb Squad, along with a K-9 team located the device and later confirmed it was not an explosive device.

On Saturday, CMPD named the suspect as 58-year-old Rhett Ingram. He is charged with common law robbery.

Cox Media Group