The case was solved in a little more than 24 hours, Hillsborough sheriff’s deputies said.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY – A man who had been convicted of robbing a Ft. Lauderdale bank has been charged with robbing a Tampa bank, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Michael Joseph Twist, 61, was charged with one count each of robbery without a firearm, grand theft, resisting an officer without violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Twist was taken to Tampa General Hospital after he was arrested Friday (June 8). He was complaining of back pain. He remains in Tampa General.

About 1 p.m. Thursday (June 7), 2018, deputies said Twist entered the SunTrust bank at 12902 N Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. He approached one of the tellers and asked for money, while implying he had a weapon. After receiving an undetermined amount of cash in an envelope, he fled the area in an unknown direction.

Aside from surveillance photos, which were immediately published online, Twist left no other physical evidence leaving detectives with few leads to pursue. HCSO crime analysts said they immediately began sifting through mounds of public information to try identifying any patterns, data or material that would move the case forward. Within hours, analysts honed in on Twist,
residing in Hillsborough, who had served more 20 years in prison for a bank robbery in Ft. Lauderdale. He finished his probation from that sentence last October.

“This case is, without a doubt, one of the most text book examples of modern policing that I can think of,” said Major Kristi Poore, District III commander in charge of the investigation. “The only way we solved this case was by combining old fashioned police work with state-of-the-art criminal analysis to come together to get this arrest. It was a true team effort in almost record time.”

On Friday, one of Twist’s acquaintances confirmed his identity in the surveillance photos. By 2 p.m., deputies said, he was under arrest. They said he admitted to detectives that he committed the bank robbery. During his capture, Twist resisted detectives’ efforts to arrest him. He also had a glass pipe commonly used to smoke crack cocaine.

Photo is from surveillance video. Courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Hillsborough Sheriff | Crime | Bank Robbery | Arrests | Tampabay News

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