Singh

THOMASVILLE — Thomasville Police Department detectives were among law enforcement officers who searched an alleged bank robber’s Tallahassee, Florida, apartment Friday morning.

Florida State University senior Patrick Lon Keating, 22, of Westin, Florida, was arrested in Bainbridge Thursday morning five minutes after Peoples Southern Bank was robbed about 8:45 a.m.

Keating also was charged Thursday with the Jan. 12 robbery of Synovus Bank in Thomasville.

Arrested with Keating was Michelle Singh, 20, Queens, New York, also a FSU student. Singh is charged with armed robbery in the Bainbridge incident.

Singh drove the getaway car in the Bainbridge heist, said Sgt. Toby Knifer, assistant commander of the TPD Criminal Investigations Division. Knifer said the same vehicle — a white Acura sedan — was used in both robberies.

Firearms were not displayed in the robberies. Notes demanding money were given to tellers. In both towns, the getaway car was parked in parking lots near the banks.

The suspects are being held in the Decatur County Jail.

Knifer was among the law enforcement officers searching Keating’s Tallahassee residence in an apartment complex off East Tennessee Street.

“Additional evidence was collected for prosecution of the case,” he said.

Knifer said he could not say what evidence was collected.

TPD detectives, Bainbridge authorities and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents questioned Keating and Singh Thursday.

“The FBI is involved in most bank robbery cases in one aspect or another,” Knifer said, adding that the FBI is helping process evidence in the Thomasville robbery.

Knifer said it is his understanding the suspects are a dating couple, but do not live together.

Keating and Singh have been cooperative since being arrested. Knifer is not aware of either having a criminal history.

“Why they did this? I have no clue. It doesn’t make much sense,” the officer said.

To date, authorities have determined Thomasville and Bainbridge bank robberies are the only incidents the suspects are involved in, but the possibility of others is being investigated.

Knifer said the investigation is by no means over.

“We still have evidence to collect,” he said.