Authorities arrested a Southeast Washington man last week and they say he confessed to a total of 11 robberies and one attempted robbery in the past 16 months. At 11:06 a.m. Wednesday, a man walked into the SunTrust Bank at 1100 G St. NW, told the bank teller he had a gun and demanded 50- and 100-dollar bills. The teller pressed the bank’s silent alarm and tried to alert another bank employee that she was being robbed, but ended up complying with the robber’s demands by giving him $2,849.
Authorities said that before Wednesday, they had received an anonymous tip identifying Jerome F. Thomas as the perpetrator of similar bank robberies between November 2009 and January 2011. While looking over surveillance photos from Wednesday’s heist in which the robber’s face was clearly visible, several law enforcement personnel thought the individual resembled Thomas. Two individuals who have known Thomas more than a year and have had repeated contact with him confirmed that he was the robber.
The FBI Violent Crimes Task Force arrested Thomas Wednesday night in the parking lot of his residence at 3429 Fifth St. SE. He had $1,891 in his possession and was wearing clothing similar to what the suspect wore in surveillance photos, authorities said.
Thomas was transported to D.C. police headquarters, where he admitted to robbing the bank earlier that day and also confessed to 10 previous robberies and an attempted robbery, authorities said.
Thomas robbed several Chevy Chase Bank and PNC Bank locations as well as a Capital One Bank. The attempted robbery took place on May 18 at a PNC Bank on Massachusetts Avenue Northwest. That teller took too long to hand over the money, so the would-be robber, who turned out to be Thomas, fled on foot. In each of the robberies, Thomas handed a teller a note demanding loose 50s and 100s and claimed that he had a gun. In several cases, Thomas also claimed to have a pipe bomb.
