- A security camera image from the Revelstoke CIBC allegedly showing Anthony Smith of Calgary. RCMP image – Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-June 2, 2010
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
It would seem that the robbery of an Osoyoos bank was part of a spree of heists across Western Canada last month.
At just after 2 p.m. on May 21, a man walked into the CIBC on Main Street and allegedly passed a teller a note demanding money and stating he had a weapon and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Police arrested two men in a 2007 Dodge Dakota pickup truck on Hwy. 3 between Osoyoos and Rock Creek less than an hour later after a description of the suspect was circulated and roadblocks were setup throughout the area.
“Traffic members were in the process of setting up a routine long weekend road check when they received information sent out to all police in the area that a robbery had occurred in Osoyoos,” said Osoyoos RCMP spokesman Cpl. Jason Bayda. “Descriptors were sent out of the one known suspect who (allegedly) entered the bank. As the Dodge Dakota pickup passed the road block, one of the members noticed the driver matched those (descriptions) sent out on the robbery.”
Evidence linking the men to the robbery was allegedly found in the vehicle, Bayda said.
He added that police found and seized clothing matching that worn by the suspect during the Osoyoos robbery.
Anthony Lloyd Smith, a 52-year-old Calgary resident, is charged with one count of robbery and one count of robbery while armed with an offensive weapon or imitation thereof in relation to the Osoyoos heist and is scheduled to next appear in Penticton provincial court on June 2.
He is being held in police custody.
The second man in the car, 42-year-old Roland McAnerin of Kelowna, is charged with one count of robbery and is scheduled to appear in court on June 9.
McAnerin has not been linked to any other robberies and was released on a recognizance of bail, Bayda said.
Smith is also charged with one count of robbery in connection to the robbery of a CIBC on May 12 in Nanton, Alta., a community roughly one hour south of Calgary, and one count of robbery for the robbery of a Scotiabank on May 14 in Innisfail, Alta., a community about half-an-hour south of Red Deer.
Nanton RCMP said the suspect in the robbery in that community also handed a teller a note stating he had a weapon and made off with more than $1,000 from the bank.
Police are also looking at whether a pair of robberies in B.C. are connected to the Osoyoos heist and the two bank robberies in Alberta.
The CIBC in Revelstoke was robbed on May 17 by a suspect wearing a baseball cap and flannel pajama pants.
The suspect in that robbery also passed a note to a teller declaring he had a weapon and demanding money.
Revelstoke RCMP are working with local police and Mounties in Alberta to investigate a possible connection between the crimes based on images taken from surveillance footage from the Revelstoke CIBC and because Smith’s name came up while Revelstoke RCMP were investigating the crime there.
According to a media release from the Revelstoke RCMP, the man who allegedly robbed the CIBC there was described as “being Caucasian and in his 40s, appeared to have a brush cut and was wearing glasses, a blue ball cap and pyjama type pants.”
“Security cameras in the bank captured the suspect in the bank’s ATM lobby just prior to the robbery without his hat and glasses disguise,” the release states.
No charges have yet been laid in that crime and the Revelstoke RCMP said there was no indication that another person was involved in the robbery.
A robbery in Kamloops in May is also being looked at for possible connections to this string of heists.
Bayda said Smith was released from prison in March after serving a three-year jail term for a robbery in Kamloops in 2006.
Discussions are underway to determine when and how the suspect will be transferred to Alberta for court appearances in that province.
[email protected]
