Gary man accused of robbing bank in Portage
By James D. Wolf Jr. Post-Tribune correspondent July 16, 2012 5:18PM
Updated: August 18, 2012 6:16AM
Porter County has issued a warrant for a Gary man who allegedly held up the Chase Bank in Portage on May 14.
The Porter County Prosecutor’s Office filed a Class C felony robbery charge against Jarrett McGill, 39, for the 9 a.m. robbery of the bank at the intersection of Willowcreek and Lute roads in Portage.
He faces two to eight years in prison on the charge.
Police were able identify Garrett through DNA evidence they collected from a hat found in the woods nearby the bank, one they saw the suspect wore in surveillance videos.
The Porter County Sheriff’s Office received a letter from the Indiana State Police laboratory on July 3, stating that DNA taken from the Purdue Boilermaker hat matched Garrett through an Ohio conviction that listed his DNA in the national database.
People also identified Garrett from surveillance videos, and police matched his driver license photo to the robber in the video.
Garrett didn’t display a weapon during the robbery or tell anyone he had one, according to charging information. He went up to a teller when the bank opened and said he knew she had money and that she should give it to him. The teller told police she was afraid he might be armed.
Because Garrett didn’t have anything to put the money in when she took it from her drawer, she put it into four cash envelopes. He told her she was moving too slow during the robbery, and when it was over, walked out.
After alerting everyone to the robbery, the teller watched the robber walk to the buildings on the east side of the mall. She described him and a black male in his 30s with a thin mustache wearing a light-colored ball cap and a dark polo shirt.
Police were able to trace Garrett’s movements before the robbery by the surveillance video, and they took DNA swabs from guardrails and vehicles he touched.
They also interviewed people who saw him walk to the bank.
A Porter County Prosecutor’s Office official confirmed that the county issued a warrant for Garrett’s arrest. As of Monday evening, he was not listed as an inmate at Porter County Jail. The charging information against Garrett makes no mention of any bond set before his initial hearing.
