For the second time in less than three months, the Chesterton branch of 1st Source Bank has been robbed, this time on Monday by a man claiming to be in possession of a gun, Chesterton Police said.

According to police, at 9:50 a.m. a man wearing a floppy hat and dark glasses entered the bank, located at 800 Indian Boundary Road, approached a teller, and showed her a note demanding cash and implying that he was carrying a gun.

Police said that no gun was ever displayed.

The teller placed an undetermined amount of cash in a bag, and the suspect took both the bag and the note, then ran from the bank in the direction of the Tiny Bubbles car wash at 451 Roberts Road, where he was observed to flee the scene in an unknown direction in a light-blue or light-green minivan, similar to a Ford Windstar.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male, 30 to 35 years of age, 5’ 8’’ to 5’ 9’’ in height and 165 to 185 pounds in weight. He had dark hair and was wearing a light-colored cowboy or safari-style hat, blue jeans, a gray-zippered hooded sweatshirt, and sunglasses.

There were four 1st Source employees in the bank at the time of the robbery and one customer, police said. No one was injured.

The CPD received the alarm at 9:54 a.m. and the first officers were on the scene at 9:57 a.m.

Det. Lt. Dave Cincoski of the CPD told the Chesterton Tribune today that Monday’s suspect is not believed to be the same man who robbed the bank on Jan. 25. That man was described as a white male in his thirties, around 5’ 8’’ in height with a thin build and blond hair, with a scarf around his face and wearing a light-colored stocking cap and a brown coat.

Nevertheless, there are certain superficial similarities between the two robberies. Both occurred around 10 a.m., with the first robber entering the bank on that Friday at 10:07 a.m. and the second on Monday at 9:50 a.m. Both showed the teller a note demanding money and both implied that they were carrying a gun but never displayed one. And both left the bank on foot in the direction of the Tiny Bubbles car wash. The first robber was observed to flee the scene in a brown or tan Cadillac, leaving the car wash parking lot eastbound on Ahrens Drive and last seen on Sand Creek Drive North.

Cincoski did say that he is comparing suspect information from Monday’s robbery to that from other local bank robberies. Last year the Valparaiso branch of 1st Source bank was robbed four times in four months, the last time in October, and in each case the suspect was described as a Hispanic male.

The Chesterton branch of 1st Source Bank occupies the former site of the Porter County Visitors Center at the southeast corner of the intersection of Indian Boundary Road and Roberts Road.

The Porter County Sheriff’s Police, Porter Police, and the FBI provided the CPD with initial assistance on Monday.

Anyone with information about the robbery is urged to contact Cincoski at 926-1136.

Posted 4/8/2008