A Langley man has been charged with one count of robbery after a failed attempt to make off with cash from the Bank of Montreal in Mission on Aug. 11.
The bank’s hold-up alarm called Mission RCMP to the 32500 block of Lougheed Highway, and police soon learned a lone suspect had demanded an undisclosed amount of cash and was still inside the building, according to an Aug. 24 press release.
The suspect, 44-year-old Joshua Ritch of Langley, was seen running from the bank’s entrance towards the highway by officers, and was arrested after a short chase on foot, Mission RCMP say. He remains in custody.
The BMO had been successfully robbed less than a month earlier on July 26, along with a TD Bank in west Abbotsford on Aug. 3 in the same manner.
In both instances, a suspect entered the bank wearing a mask, hat and sunglasses, and gave the bank teller a note demanding cash. Police released CCTV footage of the suspect in both cases.
The Mission RCMP has been in contact with the Abbotsford Police, as well as the Real Time Investigation Centre at RCMP headquarters in Surrey, to see if there is any connection between the robberies.
Ritch has a history of robbery sprees. He was charged with four counts in a string of robberies across Victoria in March, 2009, along with 11 counts of robbery across the Lower Mainland in the span of less than a month, starting December, 2011.
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