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A man who limped into a bank with a cane and sprinted out seconds later with cash in hand has been caught less than a week after the bizarre heist, police announced.
Byron Watson, 36, was arrested Wednesday after a multi-agency manhunt that spanned several days and multiple jurisdictions, according to a post on the Slidell Police Department’s Facebook page.
Police said Watson barricaded himself inside a home in the Holly Grove neighborhood before being taken into custody peacefully by officers from the Slidell Police Department, FBI, Louisiana State Police and New Orleans Police Department.
“Our investigators have worked around the clock,” Slidell Police Chief Daniel Seuzeneau said. “We were able to identify a suspect late yesterday evening and issued warrants for armed robbery. With the help of the FBI, state police, and NOPD, we tracked him to a house in Holly Grove. He barricaded himself in a bedroom, but we were able to get him out peacefully.”
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Police say a search is underway for a man who used a ruse, including a fake cane and limp, to rob a bank. (Slidell Police Department)
Police said Watson was on 20 years of federal probation for a previous bank robbery, calling it “not his first rodeo.”
“It’s still uncertain whether he’ll face federal or state charges at this time,” Seuzeneau said. “But this is why crime in Slidell is at an all-time low because we will go anywhere, including Holly Grove, to chase people down and bring them into custody quickly. Less than a week after the robbery, our bank robber is in custody.”
Surveillance video from last Friday’s robbery at Fidelity Bank in Slidell showed the suspect hobbling into the building with a neck brace and cane before sliding a note to the teller. Moments later, he stuffed a stack of cash into his fanny pack, dropped the limp and sprinted out the door.
Police said Watson’s “fake limp” was clearly a ruse to distract employees and witnesses.
“Watching the suspect walk out of the house, there was no limp at this point,” Seuzeneau said. “Obviously, that was all orchestrated.”
Police said the investigation is ongoing and did not disclose how much money was stolen.
“It’s not enough to be worth this,” Seuzeneau said. “We’re still tying together some loose ends. But the bottom line is, we identified him quickly. And here we are today, and we have them in custody.”
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The robbery happened shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, police said. According to the Slidell Police Department, the suspect demanded money while shouting that it was a robbery before fleeing on foot, this time without any sign of injury.
“The suspect entered the bank appearing to be handicapped, walking with a fake limp, a cane, and a neck brace,” police said in a Facebook post. “He then fled the scene, without a limp, with an undisclosed amount of cash.”
A bank robber in Slidell, Louisiana, used a fake limp, cane and neck brace to disguise his identity before sprinting away with cash from Fidelity Bank. (Slidell Police Department)
A spokesperson for the Slidell Police Department told Fox News Digital the man’s appearance immediately raised suspicions among bank employees.
“He walked in as a red flag, just out of pure appearance,” the spokesperson said. “Everything he was dressed in, from the hat to the neck brace, to the cane, to the multiple layers of clothing, to the face mask. As an employee of a financial institution, somebody comes in where you can barely make out their identity — that’s a red flag.”
Before staff could process what was happening, the robbery was underway.
“They were taken back, they were shook up. Thankfully, it went the way it did, he didn’t cause any harm to anybody,” the spokesperson said.
Police said the suspect sat inside for several minutes, waiting for customers to leave before making his move.
“He went in there and sat around for a couple of minutes because there were other patrons of the bank present,” the spokesperson said. “Once he was alone with the tellers, he slid a note. The victim didn’t even get a chance to read it before he started screaming, ‘This is a robbery!’ — just like something you’d see in a movie.”
The suspect grabbed the money, snatched back the note and ran.
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Surveillance video captures the moment a man limps into a bank with a cane, robs the teller, then runs out without a fake limp. (Slidell Police Department)
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The spokesperson said that while bank robberies are increasingly rare, this one stood out because of the suspect’s elaborate deception.
“We’ve dealt with bank robberies since the beginning of time,” the spokesperson said. “It’s not too common anymore just because of technology, but every now and then you get some bold person who thinks they can pull off a heist. The pure elaborate game plan that he went in there with — acting like he was crippled, going to that extent, and then just taking the money and running away, literally no injury — was something else.”
The video ends with the man sprinting through the parking lot, disappearing from sight and the limp completely gone.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to [email protected].
Stepheny Price is a Writer at Fox News with a focus on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, national and international crime stories, homicide cases, and border security.
