A man suspected of robbing a Wells Fargo bank in Lady Lake, later told police he won the money at a casino.
Brandon J. Hooks, 33, was arrested Sunday after he was spotted by a citizen at a Leesburg grocery store. The citizen had seen a photograph of the suspected robber distributed by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Villages-News.com shared the surveillance image with its readers.
An arrest report released Monday offered more details about Saturday’s robbery at the bank on U.S. Hwy. 441.
A man, captured on surveillance, entered the bank Saturday morning and passed a note to a teller that said, “I need bank 20,000 cash robbery.”
The teller, “who was in shock,” gave the man $3,020 in various $100, $50 and $20 bills, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
“No weapon was used or eluded to during the robbery,” the arrest report said.
After Leesburg police received the tip Sunday, Hooks was found in the parking lot of Harbor Freight on Citrus Boulevard. He still had $2,180 in his wallet. His vehicle was parked at Wal-Mart and his clothes from the robbery were found in the back seat of the car which he said was registered to his mother.
Brooks said he had been at the Hard Rock Casino on Saturday morning when the bank robbery took place. He said he had been playing poker and shooting dice.
He said he checked into the Best Western upon his arrival in Leesburg.
He was being held Monday on $10,000 bond at the Lake County Jail.
In paperwork filed at the jail, he listed his occupation as “disabled.”
