Police arrest suspect in bank robbery

Saliva inside the getaway car matched that of the suspect.

YOUNGSTOWN — Police arrested a suspect in the robbery of Farmers National Bank in Warren after testing a saliva sample obtained in the getaway car and comparing the suspect’s height with that of one of the robbers.

Demond D. Anderson, 20, of Hilton Avenue was indicted this week by a federal grand jury on bank robbery and weapons charges in the robbery at Youngstown Road and Central Parkway on Nov. 29, which netted robbers $16,380. He is in Mahoning County Jail awaiting trial.

An affidavit filed in the case by FBI agent Peter D. Proch said investigators found a Pontiac Transport minivan on Duke Street in an apartment off state Route 169 on Warren’s Southeast Side and analyzed saliva, which had been expelled on the passenger door.

Saliva

In the affidavit, Proch said the saliva may have been expelled when smoke emitted from exploding dye packs from the bank. The smoke may have caused one or more of the robbers to choke and/or cough.

The saliva samples were submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation, which determined that the saliva matched a sample in the federal Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) for Anderson.

Additionally, a video surveillance camera showed one of the robbers to be about 4 feet 8 inches tall, based on him passing by a picture frame along one wall that was about that height off the floor, the affidavit said.

Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle driver license information for Anderson describes him as 4 feet 7 inches tall and 135 pounds.

The van used in the robbery was stolen earlier in the day from a parking lot at Taft Elementary in Youngstown, which is about 2.25 miles from Anderson’s residence, the affidavit says.

The FBI said three men displayed weapons in the bank, and one of them fired a pistol at a teller. The shot shattered a glass divider between the main portion of the bank and the drive-through window. The employee was injured by flying glass and was released after treatment at a local hospital.

runyan@vindy.com