WATERVILLE — It was a scene right out of a bank heist movie.
A lone man brandishing a handgun walked into Bangor Savings Bank on Tuesday morning on upper Main Street, robbed the bank and fled; but no one could have predicted what happened next.
He ran across four lanes of traffic on Main Street and into the Ming Lee restaurant parking lot, slipped on the ice and found himself face-to-face with a special agent for the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Task Force who just happened to be parked in the right place at the right time.
“When he fell, the money and the gun he had stashed in his jacket pocket spilled onto the parking lot, and the money was swept across the parking lot by the wind,” police Chief Joseph Massey said later. “Members of the public tried to scoop it up.”
The state police special agent, Glenn Lang, had no idea a bank had just been robbed but was suspicious. He got out of his vehicle, tackled the man and took him into custody just about the time city police responded to the report of a bank robbery.
“That was great luck and great action on the part of (Special Agent) Lang, to put that together so quickly and get out of the vehicle and apprehend him,” Massey said.
The alleged robber, later identified as Jason Mackenrodt, 37, listed as transient, was arrested on charges of robbery and terrorizing and on a probation hold — he was on probation for burglary — and was taken to the Kennebec County jail in Augusta. His bail was set at $25,000 cash, according to Waterville’s Deputy Chief Bill Bonney, who went to the scene Tuesday. Bonney said Mackenkrodt’s court date is May 13, but he will be seen by a judge before then. The gun he was carrying turned out to be a BB gun, Bonney said.
The action started at 10:10 a.m. when police got a call from a bank official saying the bank had been held up and that a man had taken an undisclosed amount of money, according to Massey.
Shortly thereafter, police cruisers with blue lights flashing were at the bank on the busy corner of Main Street and Waterville Commons Drive, which leads into the Walmart complex and borders the Elm Plaza shopping center to the south.
Police officers also headed to the Ming Lee parking lot across Main Street, where at 10:37 a.m. officers were talking around the hood of an unmarked cruiser where two brown paper bags were placed, apparently containing the cash.
“I had just left my shift at Harbor Freight and was sitting in my truck talking to my mother in Pennsylvania and saw money flying everywhere,” said Robert Goetz, 52, of Clinton, who was at the scene.
“I’m like, ‘Mom, I’m witnessing a bank robbery here. I gotta go,'” Goetz recalled. “I was like, this is a robbery. This is bad.”
Goetz said he directed a police officer to the alleged robber and then started collecting $20 bills that were blowing around in the wind.
“I told the police I picked up about 400 bucks,” he said.
Michael Levo, assistant general manager for Advanced Auto Parts, next to Ming Lee, said he also witnessed the man running from the scene before Lang tackled him.
“I seen him running this way, coming from the parking lot of Five Guys,” Levo said outside the business. “I was standing right here. A bunch of money fell out of his pocket and he had a gun, a .45 or 9 mm.”
Levo said he witnessed the police official take the man into custody.
“That was interesting,” he said. “I just didn’t know what was going on. I was afraid somebody was hurt. When I saw the gun and money, I knew he robbed somebody.”
Besides Bonney, officers in the Ming Lee parking lot after the robbery included Waterville police Sgt. David Caron, Detective Damon Lefferts and Officer Matt Libby.
Asked if more people than just Mackenrodt were involved in the robbery, Bonney said that is still under investigation. He said Mackenrodt was cooperative with police.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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