Suspect in 2 Bloomington robberies arrested
In a news release issued early Wednesday evening, the Bloomington police department (BPD) announced the arrest of 35-year-old Byron Gregory Johnson on two charges of robbery.
The charges stem from two separate incidents, both on Tuesday (Dec. 19). The first took place in the wee hours of Tuesday, around 1 a.m. Around that time, an employee of the Circle K gas station at 4405 E 3rd St., reported a robbery. That’s on the eastern edge of town. [link to dynamic map of incidents]
The second incident took place at the IU Credit Union, located at 510 E 17th St. That’s across from the IU football stadium.
According to the news release, BPD officers arrived around 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday to the credit union in response to a panic alarm. According to the news release, the credit union robbery started when the suspect came into the bank and approached the teller counter, then handed a note across the counter to a bank employee. After the suspect was given money from the employee’s drawer, he fled southbound from the bank.
The suspect was described to officers as a man wearing a tan coat, black pants, and a dark-colored face covering.
According to the news release, investigators were able to connect Johnson to the credit union robbery, because his name appeared on the back of the note that the suspect handed over the counter. When the investigators checked records for Johnson, they concluded that Johnson matched the description of the credit union robbery suspect.
Based on the description given to officers by the Circle K clerk, investigators also connected Johnson to the Circle K robbery earlier in the day.
When investigators searched BMV records they determined that Johnson had a black 2011 Chevrolet Equinox registered to him. Officers did not locate the Equinox immediately after they started searching for it in various locations around Bloomington. But the following day, around 9:20 a.m. on Friday (Dec. 20), they found it—in the parking lot of Kinser Flats at 1610 N Kinser Pike.
Johnson was inside the vehicle, and he was taken into custody without incident, according to the news release.
While Johnson was being searched, an officer saw Johnson drop a sock and try to hide it with his foot, according to the news release. The officer then retrieved the sock and saw that it contained a large amount of cash, which came from the Tuesday credit union robbery.
According to the news release, Johnson was taken to the Bloomington Police Department and questioned. After the questioning was done, he was taken to the Monroe County jail and booked on two charges of robbery, a Level 5 felony, among other charges.
The BPD news release refers to Johnson as “transient.” The BPD defines “transient” in its general police order on encampments as someone “who lacks stable housing or employment and stays in one place for brief periods of time” and “someone who moves from place to place, just passing through the area, and is not staying for a long time.”
That’s contrasted with the general police order’s definition of a “person experiencing homelessness,” which is “an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, a stable residence, or any residence at all,…”
