Clinton Township Police Identify Spaghetti Bank Robbery Suspect

Clinton Township police are searching for a 53-year-old Mount Clemens woman they say robbed a bank with spaghetti sauce she pretended was a bomb.

Ophelia Amelia Neal, a probation violator with an extensive rap sheet, remains at large. Neal has been charged in an arrest warrant with bank robbery, a life felony, and a 5-year explosives charge, township police said Thursday.

Neal is accused of claiming she had explosives in a cloth bag late Saturday morning while she demanded money from a Fifth-Third Bank teller on Harper.  The robber escaped in a gray car with an undisclosed amount of cash, leading bomb squad authorities to find two cans of spaghetti sauce in the bag. 

Township police Capt. Richard Maierle said the suspect's physical description, among other evidence, led investigators to identify Neal.

According to her Michigan Department of Corrections record, she is described as black woman, with partial gray hair, 5'7 and 430 pounds. Her prior convictions include uttering and publishing, entering without permission, assault with a dangerous weapon, drug charges and interfering with a crime report.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to call the Detective Bureau at 586-493-7839.