According to Fort Oglethorpe Police Chief Doug Howell, after following several leads two Fort Oglethorpe detectives and an FBI agent traveled to Knight’s Inn in Chattanooga off Martin Luther King Boulevard and Riverfront Parkway to apprehend Garry Belk.
Authorities claim Belk, 52, entered Amsouth Bank on Friday, Nov. 5, around 4 p.m. and passed a note to a teller stating he had a gun and wanted money.
“The guy pulls up to the motel and spots the FBI agent in the car, and then the chase was on,” Howell said.
Chattanooga Police officers joined the pursuit and crashed Belk’s vehicle near Market Street Bridge, the police chief said.
As of Tuesday, Belk is being held in Hamilton County awaiting extradition back to Catoosa to face a federal charge of armed bank robbery, Howell said.
“We got a call from the bank, which is kind of unusual because we usually respond to an alarm or a bait money alarm,” Howell said.
He said he was unaware of the amount of money taken, but Belk informed officers he spent all the stolen cash on crack cocaine.
Howell credits hard work and diligence following leads by detectives David Eubanks and Dave Scroggins for an arrest less than three days after the robbery.
“A bank robbery is like a murder,” he said, “if you don’t follow up on everything you can, the trail gets cold pretty quick.”
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