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BRILLIANT --Law enforcement was aided by surveillance footage showing the suspect in Thursday's robbery of the U.S. Bank branch walking away from the bank and getting into a car, according to Wells Township Police Capt. Sean Norman.
The investigation led to the arrest several hours later of Dale W. Mains, 41, of 2364 County Road 17, Rayland. Norman said he will meet with an assistant Jefferson County prosecutor today about the filing of an aggravated robbery charge.
Norman said Mains didn't plan the robbery too well. Four township police officers were doing traffic control on Ohio 7 for a construction project.
Another township officer was on duty and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department school resource officer for Buckeye Local School District, Rodney Roe, was at the nearby Buckeye North Elementary School. He said they all were at the bank within minutes of the call at 12:32 p.m.
The school went into lockdown.
Norman said the county's 911 system placed a reverse call to homes within a five-block radius informing residents of the robbery and to be on the lookout for the suspect. Residents started checking home surveillance cameras and several people came forward with information and videos of the suspect walking to the car and then driving away, he said.
"I never realized how many residents had surveillance cameras," Norman said.
Norman said the suspect walked into the bank and had an item hidden in the waistband of his pants. The bank clerk said she believed it was a gun, according to Norman. He verbally demanded money and took about $400, Norman said.
Based on information from the investigation, law enforcement was enroute to Mains' house when they got word he was back in his vehicle. The deputies and officers took different routes.
Roe took Salt Run Road and passed the suspect's vehicle. Roe turned around, turned on the cruiser's lights and eventually Mains pulled over and he was taken into custody, according to a sheriff's department report.
"He is facing all that time in prison for $400," Norman said.