(La Porte County, IN) - It wasn’t the first bank robbery for a man accused of holding up a bank in LaCrosse last week. Charles Rootes, Jr., 64, is charged with level 5 felony robbery, which carries anywhere from a one-to-six year sentence.
Rootes on February 24th took more than $6,000 from 1st National Bank and was arrested Wednesday at Dunes Inn near U.S. 421 and Interstate 94 while on parole for previous bank robberies at the time.
Court documents revealed a license plate reader in the Michigan City area narrowed down the location of Rootes’ car, which was located outside the motel. Officers with an arrest warrant later took Rootes into custody in his motel room where over $4,000 of the stolen loot was recovered.
According to police, Rootes ordered a bank employee to fill a plastic bag with money and used his finger in the pocket of his coat to pretend he had a gun.
Court documents also revealed Rootes was sentenced in 2006 and 2010 for robbing the same bank in Michigan City in the 2000 block of Franklin Street. He robbed City Savings Bank, which became a La Porte Savings Bank branch prior to him holding up that financial institution four years later.
Rootes has a criminal history mostly for burglary, theft and robbery dating back to 1979.
