Perp in Webster Bank Robbery Still Unidentified; Police Pursuing Leads

One week after a man in a hat and sunglasses fled the branch just south of Four Corners on Federal Road with an undisclosed amount of cash, Brookfield police are still searching for a suspect.

“The investigation continues with our investigators pursuing leads,” Brookfield police Major Jay Purcell said Thursday, June 30, adding that there was no new information being released at this time.

Shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 22, a white male, described as between 5’ 10” and 6’ tall, entered the bank at 789 Federal Road, approached a teller and demanded money. The man did not show a weapon, however “his body language looked like he might have had a weapon,” Purcell said after the robbery took place, and photos taken by bank security cameras show there may have been a weapon in his waistband.

The man fled on foot behind the bank building toward the Still River, where he was able to lose the trail of pursuing officers, including the town’s K-9 unit.

There is no general consensus as to the duration before a robbery case goes cold, according to Purcell, as every situation is different.

The last two bank robberies in Brookfield both occurred in 2008, with one perpetrator identified and caught within a few months and the other still at large.

The first, on January 4, 2008, was at Brookfield’s , located at 46 Federal Road. (No weapon shown.)

In that incident, the suspect was identified and arrested in early March “by federal authorities and prosecuted in Federal Court,” Purcell said, as the robber had hit multiple banks in Connecticut, as well as New York and Pennsylvania.

In the second bank robbery that year, a man made off with money from the at 143 Federal Road after pointing a gun at the teller.

The thief in that situation was never identified and remains at large, according to Purcell.

Employees at the Webster branch on Thursday said things had gotten back to normal rather quickly after the June 22 incident.

None of the employees at the bank at that time were present during the robbery, however a teller confirmed that all employees who were there are now back working regular hours.