Police Chief Russ Whitman said the original charge of theft, a first-degree misdemeanor, that was filed in Franklin Municipal Court has been withdrawn and replaced with a charge of robbery, a third-degree felony. Whitman had originally said the misdemeanor charge was filed because there was no indication that the suspect had a weapon. However, after a discussion with the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, it was decided to seek the felony level charge.
Police have also identified a woman who was with the man but have declined to release her name pending the filing of a criminal charge. Surveillance cameras captured the woman waiting outside of the bank for Hall to come out after the bank robbery and left with him in a car, police said. Whitman said that information will go to a Warren County grand jury for a possible direct indictment of the woman.
Anyone with information is or the 1TIP hotline at 937-743-1TIP (1847). asked to contact contact Detective Jeff Stewart at 937-746-2882
This was the second bank robbery of a northwest Warren County bank in eight days.
On March 14, the Peoples Bank branch in Carlisle was robbed after a man entered the bank and passed a note to a teller demanding money. Police said the man left on foot and got into a gray pickup truck with an undisclosed amount of cash. No weapons were displayed and no one was harmed during the incident.
Mark Lunsford, 58, of Hamilton, is the alleged suspect in that robbery. He was later arrested on a charge of theft/receiving stolen property that day at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Lunsford is being held in the Dearborn County Jail under a $500,000 bond/$35,000 cash bond. He has a pre-trial hearing scheduled on the Level 6 felony at 1:30 p.m. April 30 in Dearborn County Superior Court II in Lawrenceburg, according to the Dearborn and Ohio County Prosecutor’s Office. Lunsford is facing a prison sentence of six months to 2 1/2 years in that state.
Lunsford is also wanted by Fairfield Twp. police on a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a fifth-degree felony because he took the pickup truck out of state.
Springboro and Franklin police officials said Lunsford is a person of interest for a June 30, 2016 robbery of the Peoples Bank branch in Springboro and the July 15, 2016 robbery of the Peoples Bank branch in Franklin.
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