A 45-year-old suspect, Travis Tarrants, of Spencer, Ind., has been arrested for robbing the Old National Bank in the 4100 block of W. Third Street Monday, according to Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo. Tarrants was arrested in the 4800 block of S. State Road 446 in the parking lot of the Fishin’ Shedd.
However, Tarrants resisted arrest, and attempted to remove an officer’s handgun during a struggle, said Pedigo. While exercising a search warrant on Tarrants’ vehicle police found a black bb gun, and clothing matching the description given after the bank robbery.
Tarrants was previously in prison and released September 11, 2021, according to the Indiana Department of Correction offender data website.
In 2016 Tarrants was charged in, “Jackson County Circuit Court with two felony charges of stalking, two felony charges of intimidation and two felony charges of criminal mischief,” according to the Washington Post.
According to the article in WaPo, Tarrants sent four dead skunks and a dead raccoon to the fiancee of a person chosen over him for a teaching job at an elementary school.
The crime was also written about in a story on Fox 59.
An opinion piece published in the Chicago Tribune called Tarrants the most famous “French Lickian.”
Here is the press release from the Bloomington Police Department on Tarrants’ latest arrest Wednesday:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
________________________________________________________________
November 17, 2021
For more information, please contact:
Captain Ryan Pedigo
Bloomington Police Department
(812)349-3324
Bloomington Police Arrest Bank Robbery Suspect
On November 15th, 2021, at approximately 11:49 a.m., officers were dispatched to the Old National Bank, located in the 4100 block of W 3rd Street, in reference to a hold-up alarm. While en route, officers were notified that an employee of the bank had called 911 and reported that the bank had indeed just been robbed. Upon arrival, investigators determined that a man had walked into the bank and approached a teller. The man was wearing gray sweatpants, a camouflage coat, a camouflage face covering, and a camouflage hat. The suspect produced a bag, laid it on the counter, and reportedly advised the teller to place money inside it. The teller further stated that the man partially displayed what she believed to be a black handgun. The suspect then collected the bag with money inside it from the counter and fled from the bank on foot. Several officers from the Bloomington Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Indiana State Police responded to the area but were unable to locate the suspect.
On November 16th, investigators were able to review surveillance camera footage from nearby businesses and one of the businesses had footage that showed the suspect parking his vehicle in close proximity to the bank just prior to the robbery. The license plate on the truck was visible in the video. Investigators were, therefore, able to determine the identity of the owner of the vehicle and began checking addresses associated with the owner. As detectives were checking the area of State Road 446 near Lake Monroe, the suspect vehicle was observed traveling northbound on the highway near the Cutright State Recreation Area. The suspect vehicle then pulled into the parking lot of The Fishin’ Shedd in the 4800 block of S State Road 446. Investigators made contact with the driver, identified as Travis Tarrants (45, Spencer). As officers were in the process of handcuffing Tarrants, he resisted arrest and attempted to get back inside his vehicle. At one point while officers were trying to gain control of Tarrants, he grabbed an officer’s handgun and attempted to remove it from the officer’s holster. He was eventually handcuffed and secured in a patrol vehicle. A search warrant was granted for the vehicle that Tarrants had been driving and investigators located a backpack in the vehicle that contained several pieces of clothing that matched clothing being worn by the suspect at the time of the robbery as well as a black BB pistol that matched the description of the weapon displayed to the bank teller during the robbery.
After speaking with investigators, Travis Tarrants was transported to the Monroe County Jail and preliminarily charged with the following:
- Armed Robbery; level 3 felony
- Attempted Disarming of a Law Enforcement Officer; level 5 felony
- Resisting Law Enforcement Resulting in Injury; level 6 felony
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Under Indiana law, criminal charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.“
