Andalusia men charged in bank robbery

Published 2:20 am Saturday, December 24, 2016

Two Andalusia men are being held on $1 million bond each in the Friday robbery of the Bank of Dozier.

Darren Hayes, 39, and Darryl Hayes, 29, are each charged with robbery first and being held on a $1 million bond in the Crenshaw County Jail. The men are brothers.

The two men sat on a bench outside the Dozier Hardware most of the morning before robbing the bank right next door.

The two men sat on a bench outside the Dozier Hardware most of the morning before robbing the bank right next door.

Linda Pittman, who manages the Dozier Hardware, said the two suspects sat on a bench outside the hardware, right next door to the bank, all morning. The pair went inside the bank just before it was to close at 11 a.m. and demanded money from a teller.

Covington County Sheriff Dennis Meeks was the first law enforcement officer on the scene. Meeks said he lives near the county line and responded when he heard the call go out.

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Other Covington County personnel, as well as Crenshaw County deputies were on the scene in Dozier studying video surveillance images of the suspect when Brantley police officer Drew Morgan recognized the suspects’ vehicle. Morgan turned to follow them, and the two stopped at the Brantley Beeline.

Law enforcement officers quickly moved from Dozier to Brantley.

Crenshaw County Sheriff Mickey Powell confirmed at the scene in Brantley that officers found clothes matching the description of those worn in the heist in the Jeep, as well as a sum of cash and a gun.

Meeks said a “good citizen” in Dozier provided a very good description of the vehicle driven by the two men, which aided in making the arrest.