Image: Hunter Chafin, 19, suspected of robbing a bank, is shown in this Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas, U.S., photo released on October 14, 2016.
(Reuters) – An Arkansas man suspected of robbing a bank and arranging ahead of time to purchase a used motorcycle for a getaway ended up behind bars after he was arrested by the person who managed the sale, a police officer in uniform, police said on Wednesday.
Hunter Chafin, 19, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of stealing $3,350 in cash from a bank in Eureka Springs. After the robbery, he took a taxi about 40 miles (65 km) to Bentonville, where he had arranged before the robbery to buy the motorcycle from a young man, police said
As Chafin arrived at the home, so did local police Corporal Steve Vera, who was in uniform and helping his son, who owned the Honda motorcycle, make the sale, police said.
Police said Chafin paid for the taxi with $150 in cash taken from the robbery and bought the bike for $2,900 in cash. He had negotiated the price down from $3,200 originally sought by the seller.
A few minutes after the sale was complete, Vera received a call that Chafin was a suspect in a bank robbery, and arrested him about 4 miles (6.5 km) from his house, Bentonville Police spokesman Gene Page said.
“It was a series of bold steps that really did not pan out for the suspect,” Page said.
There was no lawyer listed for Chafin in online arrest records. No one was injured in the robbery and police said the remaining $200 he had left in cash from robbery was recovered on the suspect as well as a note used in the robbery.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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