Police investigate robbery of bank branch in Warren

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — A man robbed the First Place Bank branch in the Elm Road Plaza at about 9:50 a.m. Friday, walked to a car in the plaza parking lot and drove away, police said.

The robber handed a bank teller a note. He did not show anyone a gun, police said, and no one was hurt.

Police had a description — a man with a red beard and mustache, wearing a ski cap and green coat — and questioned several people in the hours after the robbery. As of Friday afternoon, they had not made an arrest.

The man was not wearing a covering over his face, and police were able to obtain a picture of him from surveillance equipment, said Tim Bowers, Warren police chief. A witness in the plaza parking lot told police the man got into a car, possibly an older — “boxy” — tan Oldsmobile before driving off.

Police did find a man walking on Elm Road just after the robbery who matched the description of the robber and took him to the bank, but employees said he was not the right man.

A 27-year-old Niles man has been in Trumbull County jail since April on allegations of robbing the same bank branch April 10.

Justin R. Bowman, of Ward Avenue, is charged in the August robbery and another one involving the First Place Bank branch in Liberty on Jan. 20.

Bowman is awaiting trial in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Anyone with information should call the Warren Police Department at (330) 394-2521.