Man arrested for now-viral ATM robbery
TAMPA (FOX 13) - Police have arrested the man suspected of assaulting and robbing a disabled woman at a Tampa ATM, and they say the now-viral video of the crime helped identify him.
According to Tampa police, Charles Omar McGee was taken into custody yesterday on a warrant out of Orange County. Based on anonymous tips that came in from the surveillance video, they plan to charge the 43-year-old with robbery, too.
That video, taken inside the Amscot on Florida Avenue, showed a man robbing Aimee Ross of $700.
“He came up behind me this way and went, ‘Give me your money b**ch!’ And I had it like this and he somehow opened my hand and got the money out and I grabbed it back,” she told FOX 13 yesterday.
The footage went viral, with many viewers noting that a second woman in the video appeared unconcerned about the crime.
“I was yelling: ‘He's robbing me, please come help me!’ I was screaming at the top of my lungs,” Ross recalled. “The guy in the Amscot didn't call the police. The people around me didn't help me.”
Amscot has since pledged to make Ross “financially whole” and promised an internal investigation.
"We will continue our efforts to provide a secure environment for our customers to conduct financial transactions," a spokesman insisted.
Police, meanwhile, thanked social media users for helping them crack the case.
“It is with the cooperation and partnership of our community that criminals such as McGee can be quickly identified and brought to justice,” a TPD release noted.