Bank robbery suspect was awaiting trial in 2010 slaying

Durham police arrested two men Monday night, linking them to the robbery of a SunTrust Bank at 2714 Erwin Road.

Posted 2:22 p.m. Jul 26, 2011 — Updated 3:37 p.m. Jul 26, 2011

DURHAM, N.C. — Durham police arrested two men Monday night, linking them to the robbery of a SunTrust Bank at 2714 Erwin Road earlier in the day.

Ishmael Scarlett, 27, who also goes by the name Leryan Ishmael Scarlett, was out on bond awaiting trial in the 2010 slaying of George Junior Pratt.

Police say Pratt was sitting in his car in the 1100 block of Franklin Street on April 7, 2010, when a man pulled him from his car and shot him. He died two months later. Scarlett and another man, Robert Earl Wilkerson, 27, of North Duke Street, were charged with murder.

Scarlett has a long criminal record and spent 4½ years in jail on 2003 convictions for attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was arrested again in Sept. 2008 on drug charges.

Police arrested Isaac Scarlett, 16, as his partner in the bank robbery. The men, who live at 2513 Shirley St., are brothers.

Ishmael Scarlett was being held on $1.25 million bond Monday night – $750,000 bond for the Durham bank robbery and $500,000 for a Wake County probation violation. He is charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to manufacture, sell or deliver, accessory after the fact, felony conspiracy, robbery with a dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Isaac Scarlett faces charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of stolen goods, second-degree kidnapping and assault by pointing a gun. His bond was set at $1 million.

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