Suspect Arrested Following Robbery of Bank of the West Branch in Warr Acres

OKLAHOMA CITY—Special Agent in Charge James E. Finch of the Oklahoma City Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced the robbery of the Bank of the West, 5757 N.W. Expressway, Warr Acres, Oklahoma, and the arrest of Denzell Arion Ross, 30 years of age.

At approximately 9:40 this morning, a black male entered the bank lobby carrying a briefcase and told a teller he wanted to apply for a loan. The subject was taken into a bank office, where he produced a note demanding $50,000 and claiming he had C-4. The subject opened the briefcase and showed the bank employee that it contained some type of device wrapped in duct tape with a cell phone attached, which the employee believed to be an explosive device. The bank employee complied with the subject’s demand and placed an undisclosed amount of money in the briefcase.

The subject departed out the north door of the bank, and was observed to walk to the east into the parking lot of an adjacent business. The subject entered a silver four-door sedan and departed. Responding officers from the Warr Acres Police Department were able to locate and stop the vehicle in the vicinity of Ann Arbor and N.W. 33rd Street in Oklahoma City. Ross was arrested without incident and will face federal bank robbery charges. The Oklahoma City Police Department bomb squad and FBI bomb technicians were called to the scene. The device in the briefcase was rendered safe and was ultimately determined to be a hoax device. No one was injured in today’s robbery.

The public is reminded an arrest is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.