Chattanooga, Tn. – Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Two men charged with robbing a credit union in East Brainerd on Monday are facing federal charges after police quickly located them using GPS tracking devices hidden with the stolen cash.
Nicholas Cheaton and Stephan V. Beasley Jr. are charged with bank robbery.
The incident happened at the Scenic Community Credit Union at 7550 East Brainerd Road.
At approximately 11 a.m. two black males entered the credit union with bandannas over their faces. Only a female teller and a male customer were in the front of the credit union.
One of the men jumped over the counter and took money from the register. He put the money in a backpack he had with him.
He then entered the credit union’s vault area and stole a teller register box.
The other man remained in the lobby holding the male customer at gunpoint until they both ran out when the first man returned from the vault.
Agents said the robbers did not know that a GPS tracking device was concealed in one of the stacks of $20 bills taken from the register. There was also another GPS tracking device hidden inside the teller box.
The alarm company immediately called police and updated the officers on the suspects’ real-time location.
Based on the information from the tracking device, officers determined that the robbers were using a gold Buick found parked at an apartment complex at 3400 Wilson St.
While en route to the robbery call, an officer had noticed a black female driving a gold Buick. He saw the vehicle in the 7500 block of Shallowford Road.
Officers arriving at the Wilson Street apartments saw a black female, who was later identified as Cheywan Copeland, place a green backpack in a trash can. The GPS tracking device from the banded $20 bills was the only item in the backpack.
Police secured the apartment complex and ordered all residents outside. After about 20 minutes, Cheaton and Beasley finally exited Apt. D.
Inside Apt. D police noticed a pile of wet clothes stacked on top of a high chair next to a washing machine. Inside the washing machine was a gray hoodie matching the description of that worn by one of the robbers. A roll of $10 in dimes was also inside.
Police then moved the washing machine away from the wall and found a .40 caliber firearm loaded with five rounds as well as a potato chip bag full of stacks of $20 bills.
Inside a bathroom on the first floor, police found black strings floating in the water. Police then pulled a red and black bandana from the toilet bowl. A second bandana was found further down the toilet’s pipes.
Ms. Copeland denied knowing Cheaton or Beasley.
However, police said earlier in the day she had dropped Cheaton off for a meeting with his federal probation officer.
Original Source Credit: chattanoogan.com