PLANTATION, Fla. — A man accused of robbing a bank in Plantation on Wednesday and then leading police and deputies on a chase in a Kia Soul getaway car ― that ended in a crash in Lauderhill ― is now facing federal charges, according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Friday.
FBI agents said Tommy Duwayne Dennis, 56, blamed his behavior on crack cocaine.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Dennis walked in to the TD Bank at 1 N. State Road 7 just before 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and wrote a note on a debit slip reading, “This is a Robbery give me the money and no one will get hurt.”
Investigators said he said nothing as he handed it to a teller, who, in fear for her life, handed him $600 and a “bait bill tracker.”
The complaint states that the tracker led police to a red Kia Soul in the area of Northwest Fifth Street and 31st Avenue in Lauderhill.
As police watched the vehicle, agents said “a brown bag containing the tracker was thrown from the Kia.“ And that’s not all.
The complaint states that an unknown woman, whom Dennis ”later identified as a prostitute," got out of the Soul while Dennis “continued to flee at a slow rate of speed.”
“Law enforcement officers attempted a traffic stop by initiating emergency lights and sirens. The Kia did not stop or yield to law enforcement,” the complaint states. “Law enforcement officers conducted a Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT) on the Kia, but it did not stop. The Kia continued to flee and a second PIT was executed.”
Agents said two law enforcement officers in an unmarked vehicle attempted to block the Kia and Dennis then struck the vehicle. After a third PIT at around 4:52 p.m., Dennis crashed his Kia Soul into a concrete wall at a home at the corner of Northwest 31st Avenue and Second Street.
Authorities took Dennis into custody and took him to Broward Health Medical Center, where investigators interviewed him, according to the complaint.
The complaint states that Dennis told detectives he “was smoking crack all day” and “lost his judgement and made a mistake,” saying he “went to the bank to get some money.”
Agents said he also “admitted to writing the demand note on the deposit slip and throwing the note out of the car prior to police chasing him” and identified himself in CCTV footage from the bank.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Dennis was still in the hospital as of Friday morning; he did not appear in Broward or federal jail records.
Additionally, his federal court file lists no scheduled hearings. His case has been assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Panayotta Augustin-Birch, who sits in Fort Lauderdale.
Dennis could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
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