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Warsaw police officers apprehended four armed men suspected of robbing a Columbia City bank Wednesday morning. The mother of one of the suspects was arrested in Warsaw on Thursday.
Ronald S. Talley, 19, Duprece D. Jett, 19, Marcus Roberson, 18, and Terrence Holiday, 19, all of Fort Wayne, are being held in the Whitley County Jail.
Lake City Bank in Columbia City reported four armed men entered the bank Wednesday morning and fired one shot before demanding money. The men then apparently fled west on U.S. 30, toward Warsaw.
Joe Hawn, a Warsaw patrolman, spotted a vehicle heading west whose driver matched the description of one of the robbers. Hawn followed the car west on U.S. 30 toward Warsaw.
As he was driving behind the car, he saw the head of a passenger pop into view before disappearing again.
The car turned onto CR 250E and stopped by Tractor Supply Company TSC as Hawn followed.
When the car stopped, the driver got out and told Hawn he was having trouble with his windshield wipers. The driver told Hawn no one else was in the car. However, Hawn saw someone in the passenger's side, so he handcuffed the driver and put him in the squad car.
While Hawn was arresting the driver, the front seat passenger slid over and took off driving the suspects' car down an access road behind Tractor Supply.
Hawn pursued the car, and another officer, Cpl. Eric Coburn, joined the short chase. Coburn managed to spin his vehicle in front of the fleeing car to try to stop the suspects. The two police commissions then pinned the front end of the suspects' car between them. Each car received minor damage, but no one was injured.
The other suspects were taken into custody shortly after 11 a.m.
One handgun was recovered in the back seat between the passengers. The other gun had been tossed out of the moving car as they tried to escape behind Tractor Supply. The officers also recovered ski masks from the ground with the gun as well as on one of the suspects. Several loose $20- and $1-bills were found in the car.
Local police and the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department increased patrols on area banks after the Columbia City robbery in light of the two Elkhart-St. Joe County robberies last week. Some thought these robbers might attempt to make a Whitley-Kosciusko County robbery combination.
Paula Michiko Jett, 34, Indianapolis, the mother of Duprece Jett, is being held in Kosciusko County jail without bond. She is charged with giving a false police report. Arrested on the same charge was Tennille Monique Walker, 21, Fort Wayne, who is also being held without bond.
According to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, Jett, Walker and Earl Walker, also of Fort Wayne were found in the same field on CR 250E, behind Tractor Supply.
Earl Walker reportedly told police that Jett called him to know if he wanted to join the women to look for money that Jett's son allegedly hid prior to his arrest Wednesday.
The three were found after Jett called police to report the Walkers were allegedly having a domestic dispute and were searching for a ring Earl had thrown in the field. The vehicle the three were driving got stuck in the field, and Jett called for a wrecker to tow them out of the field.
