Bank robbers nabbed

BY BRUCE BRANUM

The Greenville Standard

 

Two men have been arrested for bank robberies in Hayneville and Fort Deposit which occurred on Feb. 28 and March 2 respectively.

Bennie Ray Carpenter, Jr., age 42, was arrested on Friday, March 19, in Crenshaw County and Hunter Lee McPherson, age 19, was later arrested by the Troy Police Department and the U.S. Marshall’s Fugitive Task Force.

Carpenter is from Crenshaw County.  McPherson is from Butler County.

In a press release by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, it stated, a masked gunman with a military style assault rifle entered the Hayneville Alabama branch of Bancorp South Bank on Feb. 28 and ordered employees to give him money. He was driven from the scene by a masked accomplice.

The press release added that on March 2, the First Citizens Bank in Fort Deposit was robbed in the same manner.

Both vehicles were later found burning in Butler County.

At a video press release on the Butler County Courthouse steps, Lowndes County Sheriff Chris West thanked the Fort Deposit Police, Hayneville Police Department, Greenville Police Department, Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Crenshaw County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, Troy Police Department, and the U.S. Marshall’s Fugitive Task Force for their help in the eventual arrest of the suspects.

McPherson is currently being held in the Lowndes County Detention Facility on a $500,000 bond.

Carpenter is currently being held in the Butler County Correction Facility awaiting transfer to Lowndes County.