Published: June 16, 2009 04:05 pm      

UPDATE: Suspected bank robber nabbed in Arkansas

A Stigler man arrested in connection with a bank robbery in Fort Smith, Ark., is also being looked at as a suspect in a recent bank robbery in McAlester.

Yell County law enforcement officers arrested Larry Eugene Walden, 57, outside a motel in Dardanelle, Ark., said Lt. John Foster of the Yell County Sheriff’s Department.

Fort Smith police, who were soon at the scene, took Walden into custody at the site on Monday, Foster said.

Sgt. Levi Risley of the Fort Smith Police Department said, “We booked him in on an aggravated robbery charge in Sebastian County.”

“There are other banks he’s suspected of robbing,” Risley told the News-Capital, mentioning bank robberies in McAlester, Poteau, Sallisaw and Midwest City.

Investigators are trying to link Walden to the March 27 robbery of Bancfirst, at 608 S. George Nigh Expwy. in McAlester, as well as to the other three Oklahoma bank robberies.

Walden was arrested in connection with the robbery of the First National Bank at Central Mall in Fort Smith on June 12, Risley said.

Risley said Fort Smith police are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in connection with the robberies.

Walden was being held Tuesday afternoon in the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center in Fort Smith in lieu of $750,000 bond in connection with the Arkansas robbery.

See more in the Wednesday edition of the News-Capital.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.