2010070807

Raleigh Police Charge Man With Six Bank Robberies

By Richard Saunders, The Raleigh Telegram

Saturday, July 10, 2010

RALEIGH - According to the Raleigh Police Department, a local man was charged with bank robbery after some public tips to a hotline and outstanding warrants led to his arrest.

Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Sughrue said that the department charged James Milton Earquhart with five bank robberies in the Raleigh area and one in Cary.

Police say that the suspect had grown increasingly violent in the robberies.

Earquhart was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to inflict serious bodily injury based on an incident that happened at a bank on Six Forks Road in Raleigh where the suspect allegedly stuck a teller with his handgun.

He was also charged with first degree attempted murder after police allege that he tried to shoot a teller.

Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Sughrue said that they felt it was just a matter of time before someone was seriously injured during a robbery.

"We're very glad to have gotten the information that allowed detectives to clear this case,” said Sughrue in an interview with The Telegram. “He was displaying a pattern of violence that escalating.”

Sughrue said that police initially identified Earquhart through some tips to the Crimestoppers hotline thanks in part to a $20,000 reward that was being offered.

When police found that Earquhart had some outstanding arrest warrants, they arrested him and searched his home and car, said Sughrue.

“Some evidence was located that tied him to the bank robberies,” said Sughrue.

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