West Warwick Man Indicted for Coventry Bank Robbery

COVENTRY, RI—A man who is alleged to have robbed a Coventry BankRI branch in May while wielding a machete has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank robbery.

John Ryder, 28, of West Warwick, threatened bank employees before robbing the bank of nearly $6,000 in cash on May 2, sparking an investigation that used pieced-together security camera footage from the bank and nearby businesses in the same shopping plaza to identify him.

Ryder was arrested about 10 days after the robbery thanks to careful detective work combing through footage of the plaza days before the robbery. Police eventually spotted a man, later identified as Ryder, casing the bank and spending "considerable amount of time looking in and around the bank" in the days leading up to the robbery.

During those appearances, Ryder was wearing a backpack and a hat that were later found in a nearby wooded area.

After robbing the bank, police said, Ryder fled into that wooded area behind the bank and later, he was recorded running from the area and getting into a car.

Police recovered the hat and backpack in the woods behind the shopping plaza. They then tracked down the owner of the car and that person allegedly confirmed he drove Ryder from the area.

Four days later, police interviewed Ryder. Four days after that, on May 10, police got a search warrant for Ryder's cell phone, which revealed "pictures of an individual wearing the same clothing and mask as the alleged bank robber," according to the release. He was arrested promptly after that.

The photographs also showed that they were taken in the same area where the backpack and camouflaged-patterned hat were located.

Ryder has been held in federal custody since his arrest and will remain in jail until his arraignment in U.S. District Court at a later date, according to U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha.

Coventry Police and the FBI were assisted in their investigation by the West Warwick, Warwick, West Greenwich and Cranston Police Departments and the Rhode Island State Police.