KINDER — Coushatta Tribal Police arrested a man who robbed a Kinder bank and briefly escaped Wednesday with an undisclosed amount of money, authorities said.

Justin Michael Schill, 31, of New Orleans, was charged with first-degree robbery and felony theft in connection with the holdup of the IberiaBank on Fifth Avenue shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday.

He is being held without bond in the Allen Parish jail.

“Apparently he entered the bank with a hand-written note on a deposit slip announcing the robbery and demanding money,” said Allen Parish Sheriff Doug Hebert III. “The teller complied and gave him the money bundles with the dye packs in them.”

Schill indicated he had a weapon, but never showed it to the teller, he said. Schill fled the bank in a vehicle he had parked outside, Hebert said.

Coushatta Tribal Police spotted the suspect’s vehicle on U.S. 165 near the casino about two hours later, Hebert said. Schill was taken into custody without incident.

Dye packs in the money had exploded inside the vehicle and on Schill’s shirt. Schill told police he had thrown the shirt out and later led authorities to a wooded area where he had disposed of it just north of Kinder, Hebert said.

Schill told authorities he left his mother at Coushatta Casino Resort while he went to rob the bank, Hebert said.

Schill had a prior arrest for theft in 2008, he said.

The bank was last robbed in February 2012. Police arrested Evie Mearlen Herrin, 57, Kirbyville, Texas, and her daughter, Amelia Darci Crew, 30, also of Kirbyville, in connection with the holdup. The two were also accused of robbing banks in Sulphur, Gulfport, Miss., and Henderson, Texas.

(mgnonline.com)

Justin Michael Schill