Police seek man in bank robbery

They find discarded clothes

BENTONVILLE — A man robbed a First Security Bank branch in Bentonville on Friday and then apparently discarded some of his clothes nearby, police said.

Bentonville police received a report of a bank robbery at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the 2501 E. Central Ave. branch. Police Chief Jon Simpson said the robber left the bank on foot.

Security cameras at the bank captured an image of the robber, and police later released a copy. Simpson described him as a heavy white man in his mid- to late 30s who is about 5 feet 9 inches tall with facial hair and dark framed glasses.

The man was wearing a red baseball-style cat and a gray mock turtleneck shirt with long sleeves, Simpson said. He said police found the clothes nearby.

Simpson would not say whether the man was armed at the time of the robbery or the amount of money taken. The robber implied a threat when he committed the crime, but no one was injured, Simpson said.

Two nearby schools were notified of the robbery and asked to call police if anyone witnessed anything, Simpson said.

Paul Stolt, director of communications for the Bentonville School District, said Washington Junior High School and Apple Glen Elementary School weren’t locked down, but administrators kept students inside and restricted access to the buildings.

He said the students would have been sheltered in classrooms with the lights off if the schools had been locked down.

“We just determined that we should not let students out for recess, but kept them in classrooms and continued with normal activities,” Stolt said.

Additional police were at the schools for Friday afternoon’s dismissals, he said.

Police tape blocked the three entrances to the bank Friday, and officers searched nearby in hopes of finding evidence.

The FBI is assisting police with the investigation.