Similar robberies abound around

The Citizens Bank of Blythedale was robbed around 10:45 Tuesday morning, June 21, by a man armed with a shotgun, according to official reports.

The man was described as a lone white male dressed in black. He entered the bank with a dark scarf wrapped around his head. He threatened a teller with the shotgun and ordered her to open the safe but the teller was unable to comply with his demand.

The robber fled the scene on foot with an undetermined amount of money. No one was injured in the robbery.

The man had stolen a vehicle earlier and made his get-away in it. Then he abandoned that vehicle about a mile from town and fled in a second unknown vehicle.

The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department, area police departments, the state highway patrol, and the FBI are investigating the crime.

Blythedale is located in the northern part of the state, about 10 miles south of the Iowa border.

Bank Northwest in Hamilton was robbed on Thursday, May 19, by a white male about 6-feet tall dressed in black. In that robbery he was wearing a motorcycle helmet and had on white gloves. His weapon was a black handgun. He used a stolen pickup for the crime, then abandoned it outside of town and got in another vehicle. Authorities believe he may have been driving a maroon 1980s Dodge Dynasty-style of vehicle, that was originally described as boxy. The vehicle is also believed to be sagging in the rear, possibly because of bad suspension.

The Brookfield branch of Preferred Bank, was robbed at gunpoint on Wednesday morning, June 1. The robber was described as a white male in his mid-twenties. He had a handgun. He wore a paint-ball mask. He committed the robbery driving a pickup which he later abandoned.

He demanded cash at the Brookfield robbery and fled with an undisclosed amount.