Police Credit Help From Public In Nabbing Robber

WVPD Officer Tony Hernandez escorts Chris Cooper to City Court for an initial appearance.

Chris Cooper’s mug shot

Images from the surveillance cameras show the one minute period beginning at 12:30.

A guard from Loomis Armored talks with a Regions employee through the locked door. The armored truck arrived just minutes after the robbery.

Sheriffs Deputy David Wallis and WVPD Lt. Rick McCuan arrive on the scene. McCuan is carrying evidence bags and fingerprint equipment.

Sheriff Lance Humphrey joined the investigation and helped distribute the robber’s photo to the news media. Behind him is Sue Boyd of Regions.

By Jack Gurner
Reporter

WATER VALLEY – A Lafayette County man accused of being the city’s first bank robber in memory was in City Court Monday afternoon and waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Christopher Eric Cooper, 39, of 06 County Road 204 between Oxford and Abbeville, is alleged to have robbed the Regions Bank Tuesday, Oct. 5 just after 12:30 p.m.

Captain Roger Thomas of the WVPD said that the robber walked into the bank, presented a note to a teller demanding money, and displayed a handgun. He was given $949.

The robber was in the bank around one minute. He left the bank on foot and was first believed to have been walking toward City Park.

Police received the bank alarm at 12:33 and immediately began a search of the area. The description of the suspect transmitted over police radio was for a short white male, unshaven, dressed in jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt and black cap.

Thomas went to Regions while other officers checked street exits from the city. Lt. Rick McCuan walked through City Park to make sure the suspect wasn’t hiding there. In the parking lot he conferred with Yalobusha Sheriffs Deputy Jim Bailey who had been searching the streets.

At the bank, Thomas talked with employees. A few customers walked up to the locked front doors and were greeted by a sign that read, “Emergency, this office is temporarily closed.”

Thomas said that within 30 minutes police had evidence that would eventually lead to Cooper’s arrest. “We got good pictures from the bank’s surveillance cameras.”

“We got a false lead starting off,” Thomas said of a tip about a local man who closely resembled the suspect.

Yalobusha County Sheriff Lance Humphreys joined the investigation followed later by officers from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Mississippi Crime Lab.

The FBI Role

Water Valley Police Chief Mike King did contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was told the agency would help, but only if needed.

A spokesperson for the FBI told the Herald that after 9-11 there was a significant shift of resources from the FBI’s criminal programs over to counter terrorism and national security related areas.

That shift required the FBI to take a look at their priorities as to which cases they could devote resources.

“In other words, if a bank robbery occurs and state and local law enforcement are capable of conducting investigations, we defer to the state and locals for those types of cases,” the spokesperson said.

He did emphasize that if there was a request from the local authorities for help, the FBI would comply. “We look at it on a case by case basis.”

Sheriff Humphreys said that his department responded at WVPD Chief King’s request. “We assisted by getting the picture of Cooper distributed to different news agencies,” he added.

“Shortly after the 5 p.m. news in Tupelo, our department received a call that provided us with a positive identification of the bank robber,” Humphreys said.

In the meantime information came in from another source that pointed to Cooper. “That’s when we called Lafayette and got them on board with us,” Thomas added.

Officers from Lafayette, Oxford, Water Valley, Yalobusha, and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation went to Cooper’s home in a wooded area just outside the Holly Springs National Forest around 5 p.m.

“He fled upon our arrival there and went into the woods behind the house,” Thomas said.

A K9 was called and the dog and handler went into the woods and brought Cooper out. He was arrested without incident. “It was just a good all around job by everybody involved,” Thomas said.

He also gave credit to the tipsters who called in after seeing the suspect’s photo. “The public solved this one. There’s no doubt about that.”

“If the information is there we can roll on it. That’s just the way it is. Without information we can’t do anything,” Thomas said.

Less than $100 believed to belong to the bank has been recovered.

Police Chief Mike King said that Cooper, who has a lengthy criminal record, is cooperating with authorities. “He’s been forthcoming on everything.”

King added that Cooper claims to have worked as a house painter and is also a tattoo artist.

A search of the Internet by the Herald turned up a Facebook page with photographs of Cooper giving tattoos to several athletes from Ole Miss. He appears to be wearing the same baseball cap turned around backwards as seen in the surveillance photos.

Court Appearances

During an initial appearance Wednesday, Oct. 6 Cooper, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, appeared before City Judge Trent Howell.

Howell explained how the initial appearance worked and told Cooper that he wanted to make sure he understood the charges against him. “You are charged with armed robbery which carries a possible sentence of life in prison (and) carries a maximum of a $10,000 fine. These are the possibilities,” Howell said.

Howell then read the specific charge that stated, “You did on October the fifth of this year feloniously take $949 personal property of Regions Bank from Angela Mehan, the bank teller.”

The judge added that by using a deadly weapon, Cooper had put her in “fear of immediate injury” and that constitutes the offense of armed robbery.

Howell left the bond at $100,000 and appointed City Public Defender Andy Arant to defend Cooper.

Howell then set the hearing for Monday at 4 p.m. “Do you have any questions, Mr. Cooper?”

Cooper, who sat with his head bowed, didn’t appear to respond.

On Monday Cooper was back before Judge Howell in the City Hall boardroom for less than three minutes accompanied by his court appointed attorney Andy Arant, the City public defender.

“Your honor, Mr. Cooper and I discussed this and it is his wish to waive his right to a preliminary hearing,” Arant told the Court.

Howell explained that the document he had signed was not an admission of guilt, but it did allow the court to forgo a preliminary hearing.

“You will be bound over to the action of a grand jury,” the judge said.

Cooper spoke briefly to a teenage boy and a woman identified as his girlfriend as he was led out of the courtroom and returned to the county jail where he is being held on a $100,000 bond.