While many of their friends were just out looking for Pokemon creatures on a summer afternoon, three teen-aged girls have been jailed for targeting something considerably more serious. A Chemical Bank branch that they held up in broad daylight yesterday afternoon. Thanks to fast police work, all three were apprehended, the money was safely recovered and the case has been solved.
Van Buren County Sheriff's deputies say that a 15 year old, a 16 year old, and a 17 year old were tracked down in very short order after confronting a cashier at the Bloomingdale Branch of Chemical Bank around 1:15 Thursday afternoon. They apparently entered the bank on foot after parking a dark blue minivan on the lot of a nearby Marathon service station.
Implying that they armed with a handgun, but not actually flashing a weapon, the clerk handed over an undisclosed amount of cash and the teen-aged trio returned to the gas station to retrieve their vehicle and make their get away.
Police quickly interviewed eyewitnesses and viewed the surveillance video from the bank to garner descriptions of both the vehicle involved and the girls accused in the hold up which they then dispatched to other police agencies in the region.
An Allegan County Sheriff's Deputy familiar with the turf and somebody matching one of the descriptions and her prior use of a vehicle of that type led to a stake out at a home in Lee Township. The three were eventually arrested there and taken into custody. The 17-year old is being held in the Van Buren County Jail while the two younger girls are being held at a juvenile facility.
All three are being held on bank robbery charges as the investigation continues.
