Nobles County Drops Charges Against Alleged Albertville Robber

With federal charges proceeding against the suspected “Man in Black,” Nobles County has dismissed state charges against the man accused of robbing banks across the Twin Cities.

Nobles County Attorney Gordon Moore told Patch on Monday that he’d dismissed charges against 49-year-old Mark Edward Wetsch of Minneapolis.

County prosecutors charged Wetsch with aggravated robbery, terroristic threats and theft following a Jan. 3 robbery at Rolling Hills Bank in Brewster. Wetsch admitted to the Brewster robbery and unspecified other robberies, according to court documents.

 the robbery that it was investigating whether he was the “Man in Black” thought to have hit numerous banks in the Twin Cities. On Thursday, that charged Wetsch with 13 counts of armed bank robbery in connection with incidents dating back to March 9—including the same Brewster robbery for which Nobles County had already charged him.

The federal government will now pursue the case against Wetsch, Moore said.

The “Man-in-Black”—so named because of his propensity for wearing dark-colored clothing during his robbery spree— is charged with the armed robbery of the Albertville location back on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011.

That incident had the St. Michael-Albertville area on high alert, as the robbery put the local school district on lock down while Wright County investigators and Minnesota State Patrol officers searched high and low for the man.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office can’t disclose information on the investigation. There are about 20 other “banks of suspicion” for which charges have not been filed, although the office could add charges later, she said