Customer makes major withdrawal — then gets robbed by bank teller, Maryland cops say
A bank teller was arrested in Maryland this week after what local authorities characterized as a “reverse bank robbery.”
The teller — 19-year-old Nathan Michael Newell — is accused of breaking into a 78-year-old man’s home on Monday in Bel Air, injuring him and a 57-year-old woman who tried to intervene in the burglary in progress, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
The burglar fled the home before authorities arrived, deputies said.
Medics treated the woman at the scene and the 78-year-old man was taken to “Johns Hopkins Bayview for treatment of what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries,” deputies said.
The investigation revealed that “one of the victims had removed a large amount of money from the bank” — and detectives soon identified “a teller at the bank as the suspect,” according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“In 34 years in law enforcement, I can’t think of another case where it’s almost like a reverse bank robbery,” Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said, according to WJZ.
The burglary occurred around 8:30 p.m. after “an unknown male rang the doorbell, then forced his way into the residence when the resident opened the door,” deputies said.
The burglar started to assault the 78-year-old until the 57-year-old woman stepped in, the Sheriff’s Office said. The suspect ran upstairs and the woman ran to a neighbor’s home to call police.
Charging documents said Newell confessed and “told police he did it for the money and was tired of working two jobs and numerous hours a week, and that he was trying to get his own place,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
The burglar didn’t manage to steal anything from the home, the Sun reports — and though he arrived in a mask, it came off his face during a struggle “and both victims told police they could identify him if they saw him again. The male victim told police he had withdrawn several thousand dollars over the course of a few days from a bank in Bel Air, and Newell looked like one of the tellers there.”
Newell was arrested Wednesday at the bank and is being held at Harford County Detention Center without bail, deputies said.
He’s charged with home invasion, robbery, burglary and assault, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“We are shocked and appalled to hear of the events that led to the assault and injury of a longtime member of our credit union. Our thoughts go out to him, and his family, during this difficult time,” Michael MacPherson, president and CEO of Freedom Federal Credit Union, said after the Fountain Green branch worker’s arrest, according to the Sun.
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Customer makes major withdrawal — then gets robbed by bank teller, Maryland cops say."
