Suspected bank robber behind bars

FLINT (WJRT) -- (03/10/08)--A man was behind bars Monday night, accused of stealing money twice from the same Flint bank.

Flint police say the man tried to rob a Franklin Bank branch on Dort Highway on Friday. Now police believe he robbed the same bank just a week earlier.

The manager says the Franklin Bank on Dort has been robbed five times in the past year. But this latest attempt was foiled by a quick-thinking security guard.

It was a quiet Friday when a security guard noticed a suspicious customer inside Franklin Bank.

"I went over to him to take his hood off because that's one of our policies in the bank and he wouldn't listen," said Gallagher Security Officer Chris Gibson.

The teller noticed the suspect, who police say is 47-year-old Barry Saylor of Mount Morris. They say he looked just like the man who robbed the place a week earlier.

"He tried to hand the teller a note," Gibson said.

Saylor ran out of the bank. Gibson was right behind him.

"I called 911 and informed them as I was chasing him down the street," Gibson said.

Gibson chased him down a hallway, through a door and outside to a dumpster where the suspect was quickly removing layers of clothes.

"He ditched clothing into a dumpster and then zigzagged in between the businesses going down toward the highway," Gibson said.

Gibson, who was wearing a bulletproof vest but had no weapon, called Flint police, who arrested Saylor a short distance away.

Saylor faces federal bank robbery charges. Although he was wearing two sets of clothes -- presumably to confuse anyone trying to get a description -- Gibson says his pants selection would have probably fooled no one.

On top was a pair of blue jeans, and underneath was another pair of blue jeans.

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local, joel feick

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