OGDEN, Utah, Oct. 24, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A man was charged Monday for allegedly robbing a bank after he was denied a loan.
The 42-year-old suspect was well-known to staff at the America First Credit Union branch he is accused of robbing, according to his charging documents, having applied for loans in the same place before.
Dispatchers were able to provide his name to responding officers after a panic alarm Saturday at the AFCU branch at 385 N. Harrisville Road.
An Ogden police officer spotted Juan Luis Benitez walking north from the bank toward the Walmart, which shares the same parking lot. He ordered the man to stop, according to a probable cause statement, but Benitez responded, “No, no, no, you’re going to make it worse” and ran.
The officer caught up with Benitez just past the east end of the Walmart, and used a Taser on him because he kept reaching toward his waistband as if he might be armed.
Benitez was charged Monday in Ogden’s 2nd District Court with one count of robbery, a second-degree felony, and a misdemeanor count of evading police. He’s being held without bail in the Weber County Jail.
Bank personnel told police Benitez had just applied for a loan and was denied, as he had been several times in the past in the same branch, when he then walked up to a teller window.
He handed the teller a note that read, “Give me the money,” the court documents said. He did not show a weapon, but the teller gave him $930 in cash, which was recovered on his person when Benitez was arrested minutes later.
