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Arrests made in MB attempted bank robbery
Two people are in custody in association with an attempted bank robbery in Mexico Beach and two other crimes in Florida and Alabama.
Investigators with the Mexico Beach Department of Public Safety and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office last Friday arrested Samuel Paul Wadsworth and Rachel Wingate of Panama City Beach, charging the pair with attempted robbery of the Centennial Bank in Mexico Beach on Jan. 3.
Wadsworth, 39, and Wingate, 45, were arrested when investigators located the pair at their residence. Wadsworth is alleged to have entered the banks and store; Wingate is alleged to be the driver of the getaway car.
The pair pleaded not guilty Monday in connection to the Mexico Beach attempted robbery.
Wadsworth is being held at the Bay County Jail on $17,000 bond and Wingate is being held on $10,000 bond.
Wadsworth was identified through a tip: he had recently paid of several debts and was seen with large amounts of cash, raising suspicion, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
During a subsequent interview evidence was presented that led to the arrest of the pair, according to J.T. Hallman with the Police Division of the Mexico Beach Department of Public Safety.
The arrests cleared two other crimes, Hallman said; a bank robbery on Jan. 4 in Defuniak Springs and the attempted robbery of a food store in Dothan, AL on Dec. 30, 2011. Charges from those two incidents are pending.
Wadsworth and Wingate acknowledged involvement in the crimes, according to Hallman.
The BCSO investigation revealed Wadsworth is a convicted sex offender from Alabama and he was arrested for failure to register as a sex offender in Bay County. Wingate was charged by Mexico Beach authorities as principal to armed robbery.
On Jan. 3 a white male entered the Centennial Bank located at 101 15th Street in Mexico Beach. He produced a note instructing the teller a robbery was taking place and that he wanted the money, though he produced no weapon.
After the teller alerted a manager to call police, the male left the bank. He was later indentified as the same male who had robbed at least one bank in Defuniak Springs.
In the latter robbery, the man, who said he had a weapon though he did not display one, left with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Surveillance camera footage from the incidents showed what police believed to be the same suspect, according to Mexico Beach Police Chief Brad Hall.
Law enforcement officers from several agencies met last Thursday to coordinate the investigation, which involved the Mexico Beach, DeFuniak Springs and Dothan police departments and the Walton County Sheriff's Office, as well as BCSO.
On Friday authorities issued an alert asking for the public’s help in locating the suspects. The two were arrested later that day.
