Officer captures suspect after Hillsborough robbery
Hillsborough police arrested a convicted habitual felon in connection with the robbery of an employee making a night deposit at a bank Tuesday.
Posted — UpdatedPolice said that a female employee of Dollar General was depositing money at a BB&T bank, 351 S. Churton St., around 9:30 p.m. when a man knocked her to the ground and took her deposit bags.
Officer Nicholas Chelenza spotted a man riding a bike on nearby Ja-Max, police said. The man fled from Chelenza, who chased and captured him.
Police said that two deposit bags and a small amount of marijuana were found on the man, identified by police as Frederick Lamont Wardlow, 37, of 517 Tuliptree Road.
"This was not just a case of officers just being in the right place at the right time. It was a case of officers being aware and active during their patrols, responding quickly and professionally, and working together," Hillsborough Police Chief Duane Hampton said in a statement.
Wardlow was charged with common-law robbery, resisting and delaying a public officer and possession of marijuana.
He was convicted of being a habitual felon in 1999 and has spent nearly 15 years of the past 20 behind bars, according to state Department of Correction records.
His previous convictions include assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, possession of a firearm by a felon, common-law robbery and selling drugs.
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