Serial Bank Robber Strikes 4 Times in 2 Days
By Kimberly Craig
Web produced by Jenny DiDomenico<br
June 8, 2004
Police believe the man who robbed two Detroit banks Tuesday has pulled off almost a dozen others single-handedly.
Melvin Leon Cornell is a 44-year-old ex-con who stopped showing
r
up for meetings with his parole officer early last year. He has served time behind bars for embezzlement, drugs, and armed robbery. In the last 2 â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š½ weeks, Detroit police believe Cornell has hit a total of ten or eleven banks, including the two on Tuesday, which were only 10 minutes
apart.
"He's threatened to shoot people in the bank unless he gets hundreds or fifties," Detroit police Lt. James Elliot told 7 Action News.
Cornell's actions caused the banks to close while police took witness statements and evidence. The shutdown caused a real pain to bank customers, especially Liz Lewis, who was trying to withdraw cash for an afternoon root canal.
"The dentist is right up the street on Warren and Cadieux, and I run down here to get the extra money and they robbed the
bank," she said. "It can't get any worse!"
Police say Cornell may be driving a black Dodge Intrepid with plastic covering a broken back window.
