Suspect in red-wigged bank robberies arrested
The man authorities say donned a red wig while robbing several area banks was caught Monday and has been booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on various robbery and burglary counts, the Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
Strands of hair from the wig led authorities to Paul Martin McCarty, 47, 12501 Settlement Court, on Monday, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said.
Narcotics agents with the Sheriff’s Office saw the strands of wig hair inside McCarty’s vehicle on College Drive while doing surveillance for unrelated investigations, Hicks said.
The agents contacted armed robbery and burglary detectives, who were able to link McCarty to the April 29 burglary of the Regions Bank at 7945 Bluebonnet Blvd.
McCarty was booked into Parish Prison on a count of burglary, Hicks said. Sheriff’s Office and Baton Rouge police detectives, meanwhile, started looking into whether McCarty was responsible for any of the other bank robberies and burglaries in the area.
Their investigation connected McCarty to three bank robberies, one bank burglary and one attempted bank robbery, Hicks said. McCarty was wearing a red wig in at least two of the robberies, Hicks said.
In addition to the April 29 burglary, Hicks said Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested McCarty in the April 30 armed robbery of the Regions Bank at 8756 Siegen Lane, the March 21 armed robbery of the Whitney Bank at 11033 Industriplex Blvd. and the April 27 attempted armed robbery of the Chase Bank at 6651 Sullivan Road.
Police also arrested McCarty in the Monday armed robbery of the IberiaBank at 7325 Highland Road, Hicks said.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, McCarty walked into IberiaBank with a gun and ordered employees to open the cash drawer and give him all the money.
McCarty then jumped over the front counter and forced bank employees to open the drawers, the affidavit says. McCarty told the employees not to stand around him while he took a large amount of cash, the affidavit says.
Hours after the robbery, the affidavit says McCarty gave a woman at a local casino a large amount of cash and told her he was the person who had recently robbed three banks in Baton Rouge.
McCarty’s cellphone records showed McCarty was in the area of Highland Road and Kenilworth Parkway for about an hour at the time of the IberiaBank robbery, the affidavit says.
The affidavit also says McCarty is on parole for two bank robbery convictions in Mississippi and his method of operation in those cases was the same as in the recent cases in East Baton Rouge Parish.
McCarty was booked into Parish Prison on three counts of armed robbery, a count of burglary and a count of attempted armed robbery.