Indianapolis Man Charged with Bank Robbery

June 24, 2010 - INDIANAPOLIS—Michael G. Adkins, 42, Indianapolis, Indiana, was charged late yesterday with armed bank robbery and use of a firearm during a crime of violence, following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indianapolis Police Department.

On September 5, 2009, at approximately 11:15 a.m., The Huntington National Bank branch on Rockville Road, Indianapolis, was robbed of over $42,000 by two men armed with handguns. According to a probable cause affidavit earlier filed in this case, Adkins allegedly posted himself at the lobby door as a lookout while the other robber jumped over the teller counter, took money from a teller drawer, and then obtained currency from the vault. While the second robber was in the vault room, Adkins purportedly grabbed an 11-year-old girl who was present in the bank with her mother and placed the girl in a headlock, pointing his handgun to her head and threatening to kill her if the bank employees did not comply.

The girl was released and both robbers ran out of the bank. They entered a gold Dodge Intrepid automobile which had been backed into a parking lot space at the bank. As they pulled away, a bank customer recorded the license plate number and notified police. That car had been reported stolen two days before the robbery.

Less than 20 minutes later, officers located the car in a carport at an Indianapolis apartment complex. Officers observed gray sweat pants and tennis shoes next to the car, which clothing matched that worn by one of the robbers. Adkins had allegedly been wearing those gray sweat pants.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who is prosecuting the case for the government, Adkins faces a maximum of 25 years in prison for Count 1 and not less than seven years consecutive to Count 1 for Count 2 and a $250,000 fine. The second alleged robber has not been identified and the investigation continues. An initial hearing will be scheduled before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.