Saturday, June 6, 2009

A bank robbery suspect was caught literally "red-handed," with dye on him about 6 p.m. Friday following the morning robbery of Key West Bank on the corner of White and Angela streets, city spokeswoman Alyson Crean said in a press release.

Robert Potvin, 38, was charged with one count of robbery.

A deputy who stopped Potvin Friday evening for allegedly running a stop sign on Stock Island saw he had red dye on his hands and called Key West police, Crean said.

Police were looking for a man who walked into Key West Bank, at 701 Whitehead St., at 9:20 a.m. Friday and demanded money. A teller handed over an undisclosed amount of money that included a red-dye pack, which witnesses said exploded in the suspect's pockets as he fled.

Surveillance footage showed, and witnesses described, a man with facial hair, but Potvin reportedly was clean-shaven when stopped. Reports say it appeared he shaved his head and face sometime that day.

Most of the money was recovered, some of it at the scene where the dye-pack exploded, reports say. Banks often conceal dye packets in tellers' cash drawers in case of robberies, Crean said in the press release.

Potvin reportedly appeared to be hiding something as he was interviewed at the Key West Police Department, and he eventually admitted that he had a $50 bill hidden in his buttocks, the press release says. The bill reportedly also had red dye on it.

He is being held without bond.

It marked the second bank robbery on Whitehead Street in six months, and the fifth in Key West in the past 18 months. Police made arrests in all previous incidents. The First State Bank on North Roosevelt Boulevard was robbed in October and the First State Bank at 444 Whitehead St. was robbed two months later. Keys Federal Credit Union in the Overseas Market was robbed in March and again in June.

alinhardt@keysnews.com