Hold Up: Dallasite Arrested And Charged With Bank Robbery

DALLAS — Dallas resident Michael Wilmer Wilson has been arrested and faces charges of bank robbery, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah.

The allegations say that the 34-year old appeared February 9 at a Dallas bank presented a note which read, "This is a robbery. I have a gun."

Authorities say that after the startled teller surrendered several thousand dollars to the suspect, he got away with both the demand note and his loot — but accidentally left behind a deposit slip on the counter containing a fingerprint. While the fingerprint image was able to be copied and run through databases, no match was initially found.

In true Bonnie and Clyde-like fashion, the robber struck again on April 29, this time brandishing a note that read, "DON'T BE A HERO" and demanded $30 thousand dollars from the bank teller. After instructing that the cash be put into a folder, the robber then disappeared in the direction of a local grocery.

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Existing surveillance video of the parking lot pinpointed a silver Dodge Challenger leaving the scene moments after the incident, investigators say. What's more, footage later revealed the same Challenger encountered a police vehicle, which captured the auto's license plate on camera.

A license plate trace found Wilson to be the registered owner, and subsequent searches of DMV records found a driver's permit photo of Wilson, which victims say match their recollections of the bandit's appearance.

Ultimately, the fingerprint sample inadvertently left during the first heist was matched by a forensic specialist, who compared the February robbery print to a print from March of 2020, when Wilson voluntarily provided his print while applying for a driver's license.

Wilson's first federal court appearance is slated for Friday, and authorities' criminal complaint states that the alleged bandit can be tied to a series of bank robberies across the region — which were repeatedly recorded on camera.

Conviction on the charges could lead to a prison sentence of 20 years.

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