The case against a Carter County man charged with an attempted bank robbery will be presented to a Grand Jury following a court appearance on Tuesday.
Alexander Leroy, 33, of 112 Hickory Hollow Road, Apt. 1, appeared in Carter County General Sessions Court Tuesday where he was arraigned on the charge of attempted aggravated robbery.
On Monday, Judge Keith Bowers Jr. appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent Leroy. On Tuesday, Leroy through his attorney waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the case and asked the charge be bound over to a Grand Jury. Bower granted the request, bound the case over and scheduled Leroy to appear in Carter County Criminal Court on April 6, 2017.
Bowers also reduced Leroy’s bond from $50,000 to a $5,000 corporate bond, which means Leroy would need to post bail with a professional bonding agency in order to be released from jail. On Tuesday evening, Leroy remained held at the Carter County Detention Center.
The charges against Leroy stem from an incident that happened shortly before Noon on Dec. 8 when police were summoned to the Carter County Bank branch location on Bemberg Road in response to a panic alarm at the bank.
According to court documents, employees at the bank said a man, later identified as Leroy, entered the bank, stood at a workstation area filling out paperwork for several minutes and then approached a teller with a deposit ticket with the amount $500,000 written on it.
“The teller reported that the male was acting strangely and she realized that he was attempting to commit a robbery,” EPD Capt. Joy Shoun said in the warrant for Leroy’s arrest. “She also observed something in his pocket and based on his movements was in fear for her safety.”
The teller reported she told the man she did not have that amount of money at the branch and he asked her if someone else could get it. The teller said she was able to activate the bank’s panic alarm and walk over to another teller and alert the other employee as to what was going on.
The teller told officers they again told Leroy they did not have that amount of money at the branch and he then told them to give him “what they had in their drawer,” Shoun said. The employees told Leroy they were unable to access the money and he then left the bank.
Tellers were able to provide officers with a description of the man who had attempted to rob the bank and a witness was able to provide a description of the vehicle he left in. A short time later, officers located and stopped a vehicle matching the description given by the witness.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as Leroy. When officers stopped the SUV Leroy was driving, they located a wig and hat matching the description given by the tellers as well as a Carter County Bank deposit slip with $500,000 written on it.
Shoun said investigators interviewed Leroy regarding the incident and he denied any wrongdoing.