Fairfax County Police have arrested a 21-year-old Herndon man in connection with an armed bank robbery in Reston earlier this week.
Nathanael Blackmon of Herndon was charged with bank robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Blackmon is suspected of entering the BB&T Bank in the 2500 block of Fox Mill Road on Wednesday afternoon, displaying a gun and demanding cash.
Authorities arrested Blackmon Thursday afternoon. He is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
(Updated 1:15 p.m. Thursday to correct date and add details)
Fairfax County Police are looking for a suspect in an armed bank robbery that occurred Wednesday afternoon at the BB&T Bank at 2513 Fox Mill Rd.
Police responded to the bank about 4:33 p.m.
Witnesses said a man walked into bank, said it was a robbery, displayed a handgun and demanded money. The suspect fled on foot with cash, police said.
There were no injuries.
Witnesses describe the suspect as a light-skinned black or Hispanic man, about 5-foot-5 inches tall and 185 lbs. He was wearing a dark-colored jumpsuit and black bandanna on his head, witnesses told police.
Fairfax County Police have arrested a suspect in two recent Reston bank robberies.
Jason Sharpe, 30, of Blueberry Lane in Fairfax has been charged in relation to crimes that took place on Dec. 10 and 15, police said.
Sharpe was arrested around noon on Wednesday, Dec. 31 while leaving a friend’s home in the Reston area.
In addition to the bank robbery warrants, he was also charged with probation violation, and forgery and identity theft, stemming from warrants in Fredericksburg, Va. in October 2014, police said.
Detectives are continuing to investigate; Sharpe is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
Sharpe was identified after a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshal’s Service, and the FCPD Robbery Section.
The Dec. 10 incident was a robbery at the Wells Fargo Branch at Reston Town Center.
The Dec. 15 robbery took place at the Sun Trust Branch inside the Safeway at Hunters Woods Village Center.
There were two other recent bank robberies in Reston — Nov. 26 at Presidential Bank on Reston Parkway and Dec. 29 at the PNC Branch inside the North Point Giant. Police have not charged Sharpe in those robberies.
There were a total of eight bank robberies in December 2014, Fairfax County Police said. There were 20 in all of 2014 and one so far in the county in 2015.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released photos of the suspect in the robbery at PNC bank inside the North Point Village Center Giant store earlier this week.
A man robbed the branch about 5 p.m. Monday. He told the teller he had a weapon and fled with an undisclosed amount of money, Fairfax County Police said.
The suspect is a black male, about 5-foot-7 and 170 lbs., said the FBI. He was wearing a red Nike hooded sweatshirt.
The description of the suspect is very similar to the suspect in the robbery of the Sun Trust branch inside the Safeway at Hunters Woods Village Center on Dec. 15.
There were also two other Reston bank robberies in recent weeks, Nov. 26 at Presidential Bank near the Home Depot and Dec. 10 at the Wells Fargo at Reston Town Center.
FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the suspect.
Anyone with information can call the FBI at 202-278-2000 or Fairfax County Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477.
Fairfax County Police have released a description of the suspect in a Monday afternoon bank robbery at the PNC Bank inside the Giant at North Point Village Center.
Police said the suspect is black, around 5 feet 11 inches tall, 170 pounds and unshaven. He wore a red Nike hoodie and the hood was on his head during the crime.
That is very similar to the suspect in a Dec. 15 robbery at the Sun Trust branch inside the Safeway at Hunters Woods Village Center.
In that incident, the suspect was described as a black man, in his mid-20s, wearing a red jacket with black stripes.
Both robberies occurred at 5 p.m. on a weekday at crowded Reston supermarkets. In both incidents, the suspect told the teller he had a weapon and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The PNC robbery was the fourth bank robbery in Reston in the last several weeks.
In addition to the grocery store branches, robberies took place Dec. 10 at the Wells Fargo Branch at Reston Town Center and Nov. 26 at the Presidential Bank at 1675 Reston Parkway.
Detectives and agents are investigating whether or not any of these bank robberies, including last night’s in Reston, are linked.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477, e-mail atwww.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES/274637 or call police at 703-691-2131.
Monday’s robbery was the seventh bank robbery in Fairfax County in December 2014; and the 19th so far in all of 2014. There were a total of 19 in 2013, 8 in 2012, 27 in 2011 and 20 in 2010, police said.
Photo: Security camera picture from Dec. 15 robbery in Reston/Courtesy of FCPD
Fairfax County Police are searching for a suspect who robbed the Sun Trust Branch inside a crowded Safeway store on Monday afternoon.
The man got away from Safeway at Hunters Woods Village Center with an undisclosed amount of money just after 5 p.m. — during the busy late afternoon shopping time, said FCPD public information officer Don Gotthardt.
Police cars descended on the shopping center, as did the FCPD helicopter as it searched for the suspect by air.
The suspect was described as a black man, in his mid-20s, wearing a red jacket with black stripes.
This is the third Reston bank robbery in the last month.
Last week, the Wells Fargo branch at Reston Town Center was robbed. The suspect told the teller he has a weapon and demanded money. In late November, the Presidential Bank at Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron was robbed.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says bank robberies rise in December. The FBI says 17 bank robberies occurred in Northern Virginia in December 2013. Thirteen of suspects in the incidents were apprehended.
Police are investigating to see whether the Hunters Woods robbery is related to the other Reston robberies.
Photo by Tim Boone
Last week’s bank robbery at Reston Town Center was part of a December crime trend, says the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Bank robberies in the area rise sharply in December, but there is no one reason why, the FBI said.
Last December, there were 17 bank robberies in Northern Virginia, the FBI said. The FBI said 13 of those robberies have been solved.
The FBI said last month it  “is proactively working to counteract bank robberies this holiday season.”
From the FBI:
For the past two years, a quarter of all bank robberies in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia have taken place in the month of December. Additional analysis shows that the number of bank robberies committed in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia tripled during this one month of the holiday season.
Law enforcement is actively sharing information with banks and the public to create heightened awareness of this issue and warn individuals who may be inclined to rob or attempt to rob banks of law enforcement’s increased focus.
Still, there have been four bank robberies in Northern Virginia this month, including Wednesday’s at the Wells Fargo Branch on Freedom Drive. There also was a Nov. 26 robbery at the Presidential Bank on Reston Parkway at Baron Cameron.
In the Wells Fargo incident, police said a man entered the bank at 1:52 p.m. and told a teller he had a weapon. He took cash and fled.
Witnesses told police the suspect was a black man, about 6-foot-1 and in his late 20s or early 30s.
Fairfax County Police said they were trying to determine whether the most recent Reston robbery was related to two incidents in the McLean District earlier in December. In a Dec. 5 robbery of a Wells Fargo Branch in the 1100 block of Chain Bridge Road, the suspect wore a rubber Halloween mask, police do not have good description.
Photo: Security camera photo of suspect in Dec. 10 robbery of Wells Fargo Bank on Freedom Drive in Reston/Courtesy of FBI.
