A man accused of robbing an Anchorage credit union was arrested after federal prosecutors say he was recognized by tellers as having previously robbed the same credit union branch months earlier.
Allen John Leavitt, 35, has been charged with robbing a credit union on Sept. 10, according to charges filed in U.S. District Court for Alaska.
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It's the second time this month that a suspect in a credit union robbery has been arrested after being recognized. Last week, Eyob Eric Steward Imlach, 23, was recognized as a "frequent customer" of an Anchorage credit union before being arrested.
According to charges in Leavitt's case, at 2:37 p.m. on Sept. 10, Leavitt walked into the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union on 777 Juneau Street in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood.
He approached a teller and gave her an account number that didn't bring up a working account. Leavitt wrote down a number – which was later found to match his driver's license number – and the teller still couldn't find the account. The teller asked for both his social security number and first and last name, which he didn't give her.
"After thinking for a moment the man left," charges say.
Leavitt returned to the credit union a short while later, at 3:11 p.m., wearing the same basketball cap, jacket and jeans as he was wearing before.
After waiting in line several minutes, he slid a teller a note that said "100's 50's only Top Drawer," charges say. The teller asked for an account number. Leavitt indicated toward the note again and "stared at her intently."
The teller realized that she was being robbed and took $1,000 from her cash drawer, charges say, including five one-hundred dollar "bait bills," – bills that have serial numbers recorded so they can be tracked.
Leavitt put the money in his pocket.
"As he walked away, he looked back and smirked at the teller. The teller then noticed he was the same man who robbed the bank on June 29."
That same afternoon, Leavitt went to the DMV on Benson Boulevard, where he used a hundred dollar bill with a serial number that matched one of the "bait bills" the teller handed over during the robbery.
Later that night, the FBI got a tip that Leavitt was the suspect. In addition to the number he wrote down that matched his drivers license number, two tellers identified him in a photo lineup, charges say.
Charges were filed against him on Sept. 14. On Monday, Leavitt was in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.