Witnesses nab bank robber wearing wig, bandana

VERO BEACH — Alert citizens nabbed an accused robber after the man fled from a bank with more than $1,200 taken from a teller, authorities said.

Two witnesses followed the robber outside the bank and watched as the man threw his hat and wig over a fence near the Seacoast Bank, located at 1206 US 1, in Vero Beach. The witnesses, both male, were able to detain the suspect – identified as Christopher O’Buckley, 39 – behind another nearby bank and waited until authorities arrived.

According to the arrest report, O’Buckley entered the Seacoast Bank last Friday, Dec. 21, around 1:30 p.m., wearing a hat, wig, bandana, and gloves. He approached a bank teller and demanded she give him the money in her drawer. A nearby teller activated the alarm button, as did the teller whom O’Buckley had approached.

She also had these words for O’Buckley, according to the report: “Are you kidding me?”

The teller passed the cash to O’Buckley who asked if that was all of it. She showed him the now-empty cash drawer and he left.

The teller ran behind O’Buckley and locked the door to the lobby. She noticed O’Buckley continued on foot toward he back of the bank. A teller working the drive-thru lane noted O’Buckley continued through the back parking lot to the dumpster.

O’Buckley continued through the parking lots of nearby businesses, dumping the hat and wig before the witnesses caught up to and stopped him.

O’Buckley, of Barefoot Bay, faces two felony charges of robbery while wearing a mask and grand theft auto. He is currently being held at the Indian River County jail without bond.