A suspect who tried to rob a St. Petersburg bank branch was caught Thursday when he tried to use a city bus as a getaway car, according to St. Petersburg Police.

  • Robert Lee Johnson, 42, robbed Suntrust Bank on Central Ave.
  • Police searching the area after the robbery found Johnson on a PSTA bus
  • Johnson taken into custody without incident

The robbery occurred at the Suntrust Bank on Central Avenue at about 3 p.m. Police said the suspect, 42-year-old Robert Lee Johnson, passed a teller a note demanding money. Once he had the money -- $890, according to investigators -- he then took off on foot.

After several silent alarms sounded, police responded to the bank and got a description of the suspect.

“They provided a description that there was a tall male subject with a bald head, goatee, wearing a long white shirt that had robbed a bank,” said Officer Rachel Hunter.

Hunter, a rookie police officer, said instinct told her to check the PSTA bus terminal next door to the bank.

“I observed a bunch of people sitting on a bench. I saw two buses there and just out of caution I decided to check the buses,” she said. “The first bus, I told the bus driver not to leave and I looked on the bus, there was nobody on there. The second bus had already shut the doors and the air brakes had gone off like it was getting ready to leave.”

Seconds later, Hunter said she realized following her instinct had paid off.

“So I ran up to the bus, knocked on the door and she opened it," said Hunter. "She asked what was going on and I said I was looking for a subject, and when I got on the bus, I looked on the bus, scanned, it was full of people and he was sitting on the back bench and we made eye contact."

Hunter said she was alone, so she called for backup, keeping her eyes on the suspect.

Bystander Jerome White said he watched the take down unfold.

“He seemed real calm, you know, considering he just had at least 20 cops go on that bus with guns and the dog was right there barking too,” he said. “Crazy enough, everybody was like, nobody was like trying to get away from the area. Everybody was trying to see what was going on, which is crazy too.”

The only thing crazier, perhaps, was where Hunter said she found the money.

“He was handcuffed and then when I searched him I found the exact amount of cash that had been stolen from the bank in his underwear by his leg,” she said. “He had bundles of bills and he had loose $10 bills.”