MERV
07-20-2007, 01:06 PM
7/20/2007
By JIM KINNEY , The Saratogian
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Fugitive accused bank robber Rick L. Massey was in tears and talking with his wife on a cell phone Thursday afternoon when he turned himself in to police in downtown Nashville, Tenn.
Prosecutors will soon start working to extradite him back to Saratoga Springs to face the robbery charge against him.
Massey was mumbling how sorry he was and crying when he walked up to an off duty Nashville Metropolitan Police Officer. Massey told the officer, Ada Thaxter, that he had robbed a bank in New York. Thaxter, who was working a moonlight security job in uniform, didn't believe him but called on-duty officer Claude W. Mann for backup.
"When I got there I said 'Man, did you rob a bank?'," Officer Mann said by phone Thursday night.
Massey told him he had the money in his boot and he lifted up his pant leg.
"True enough, he had the money wrapped up in plastic in his boot," Mann said. "That's when I called the violent crime task force."
Police found $4,100 on Massey.
Officer Thaxter got on the phone with Massey's wife, Mann said. The wife asked Thaxter if her husband was in cuffs.
"We told her yes, he was in custody and she told us 'Thank God, I've been trying to get him to turn himself in for a week," Mann said.
Mann, a 23-year-veteran of the force, said this is the first time he's had a bank robber turn himself in.
Police in Saratoga Springs
thought Massey might have been trying to get back to Oklahoma where he had lived and been arrested before.
"It is my understanding that he did not want to be on the run anymore and turned himself in," City Police Chief Edward Moore said.
Massey, 46, of Moreau is accused of robbing the Adirondack Trust Co. branch office on Broadway at Church Street at 3:30 p.m. a week ago today. It was the city's second bank heist in less than a month. The robber in the earlier case at Saratoga National Bank and Trust Co. was arrested within hours.
Tuesday, city police identified Massey as the suspect in the Adirondack Trust heist and released a number of pictures of Massey to newspapers and television stations.
Massey's photo went out across the nation and was picked up by television stations outside the Albany area. That might have put even more pressure on him, Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.
"We had such great pictures of him. I think he knew he was going to get caught," said Adirondack Trust Co. president Charles V. Wait. "I think it led him to the conclusion that it would be far safer for him to turn himself in than to risk a confrontation with police."
Massey told police in Nashville that he had taken a Greyhound bus.
Officer Mann said Massey said he had stopped twice overnight and stayed in motels.
He complained he felt sick and they took him to General Hospital where he remained Thursday evening.
Massey had $4,100 in cash on him police assume came from the bank robbery. They believe Massey took $7,000 from the bank.
Massey was arrested without incident, Murphy said. He has done time in Oklahoma for assaulting a police officer who had come to arrest him on a burglary charge.
Police had feared that Massey was armed and dangerous. He threatened the teller at Adirondack Trust with death, but never displayed a weapon.
The teller, a young woman, is now doing better, Wait said, after appearing very shaken this past Friday after the robbery.
"It's a very rattling experience," Wait said. "I liken it to being in a car crash."
Moore said Massey was last seen in Fort Edward, where he has family, and Moore believes Massey left for Tennessee Monday.
"I don't believe he had any assistance," Chief Moore said.
Murphy said the state police and the Nashville police are still investigating, though.
It has been a busy day for Nashville police with President Bush in town, Moore said.
Murphy said Massey is now charged with being a fugitive from justice and will appear in court there soon. If Massey waives extradition, two officers from here will go to Tennessee to get him. If Massey doesn't waive extradition, Murphy's office will start the long legal process of extraditing him.
The Adirondack Trust Co.'s Charles Wait thanked police and Murphy for their work on the case. He also praised his own staff.
"Everyone did what they were supposed to do," he said. "The robber left the building and what could have been a confrontation didn't happen. Everybody was safe."
Reach Jim Kinney at jkinney@saratogian.com or call 583-8729 ext. 216.
By JIM KINNEY , The Saratogian
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Fugitive accused bank robber Rick L. Massey was in tears and talking with his wife on a cell phone Thursday afternoon when he turned himself in to police in downtown Nashville, Tenn.
Prosecutors will soon start working to extradite him back to Saratoga Springs to face the robbery charge against him.
Massey was mumbling how sorry he was and crying when he walked up to an off duty Nashville Metropolitan Police Officer. Massey told the officer, Ada Thaxter, that he had robbed a bank in New York. Thaxter, who was working a moonlight security job in uniform, didn't believe him but called on-duty officer Claude W. Mann for backup.
"When I got there I said 'Man, did you rob a bank?'," Officer Mann said by phone Thursday night.
Massey told him he had the money in his boot and he lifted up his pant leg.
"True enough, he had the money wrapped up in plastic in his boot," Mann said. "That's when I called the violent crime task force."
Police found $4,100 on Massey.
Officer Thaxter got on the phone with Massey's wife, Mann said. The wife asked Thaxter if her husband was in cuffs.
"We told her yes, he was in custody and she told us 'Thank God, I've been trying to get him to turn himself in for a week," Mann said.
Mann, a 23-year-veteran of the force, said this is the first time he's had a bank robber turn himself in.
Police in Saratoga Springs
thought Massey might have been trying to get back to Oklahoma where he had lived and been arrested before.
"It is my understanding that he did not want to be on the run anymore and turned himself in," City Police Chief Edward Moore said.
Massey, 46, of Moreau is accused of robbing the Adirondack Trust Co. branch office on Broadway at Church Street at 3:30 p.m. a week ago today. It was the city's second bank heist in less than a month. The robber in the earlier case at Saratoga National Bank and Trust Co. was arrested within hours.
Tuesday, city police identified Massey as the suspect in the Adirondack Trust heist and released a number of pictures of Massey to newspapers and television stations.
Massey's photo went out across the nation and was picked up by television stations outside the Albany area. That might have put even more pressure on him, Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.
"We had such great pictures of him. I think he knew he was going to get caught," said Adirondack Trust Co. president Charles V. Wait. "I think it led him to the conclusion that it would be far safer for him to turn himself in than to risk a confrontation with police."
Massey told police in Nashville that he had taken a Greyhound bus.
Officer Mann said Massey said he had stopped twice overnight and stayed in motels.
He complained he felt sick and they took him to General Hospital where he remained Thursday evening.
Massey had $4,100 in cash on him police assume came from the bank robbery. They believe Massey took $7,000 from the bank.
Massey was arrested without incident, Murphy said. He has done time in Oklahoma for assaulting a police officer who had come to arrest him on a burglary charge.
Police had feared that Massey was armed and dangerous. He threatened the teller at Adirondack Trust with death, but never displayed a weapon.
The teller, a young woman, is now doing better, Wait said, after appearing very shaken this past Friday after the robbery.
"It's a very rattling experience," Wait said. "I liken it to being in a car crash."
Moore said Massey was last seen in Fort Edward, where he has family, and Moore believes Massey left for Tennessee Monday.
"I don't believe he had any assistance," Chief Moore said.
Murphy said the state police and the Nashville police are still investigating, though.
It has been a busy day for Nashville police with President Bush in town, Moore said.
Murphy said Massey is now charged with being a fugitive from justice and will appear in court there soon. If Massey waives extradition, two officers from here will go to Tennessee to get him. If Massey doesn't waive extradition, Murphy's office will start the long legal process of extraditing him.
The Adirondack Trust Co.'s Charles Wait thanked police and Murphy for their work on the case. He also praised his own staff.
"Everyone did what they were supposed to do," he said. "The robber left the building and what could have been a confrontation didn't happen. Everybody was safe."
Reach Jim Kinney at jkinney@saratogian.com or call 583-8729 ext. 216.