OREM — Three Utah County men have been arrested in connection with a string of bizarre bank robberies in Utah and Colorado that used bomb threats to divert police away from the banks as they were being robbed.
"The methodology that was used (in making the arrests) was the common thread in all three locations, particularly the devices that were used as diversions or real explosive devices," said Orem Police Sgt. Bill Young.
Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards said Wednesday that based on information from an informant police arrested Troy Wendall Hansen, 39, of American Fork; Steven Bingham, 25, of Provo; and Brian Tucker, 37, of the Canyon Meadows area in Wasatch County.
The three men may face federal charges on their alleged involvement in bank robberies in Orem and Herriman, as well as two bank heists in Colorado.
In the past few days, Orem police got a big break in the case when a friend of the men came forward with information about the robberies and the location of the suspected getaway vehicle. The police found the car, which had been torched.
That kicked off a chain of events that led to the arrests of Hansen and Bingham on Tuesday night at the Orem police station, where both men were being questioned about an unrelated domestic incident, police said.
Tucker tried to flee from police when officers came to his Provo home but was quickly apprehended and arrested, Young said.
During a search of the men's homes and cars, police recovered large amounts of money, firearms and a book about successful bank robbers.
Young said the men confessed to robbing the banks while being questioned by detectives, though he declined to outline specific admissions.
Young did say the men, who knew each other through a local construction company that Tucker owns, planned all their crimes in detail.
"I would say there was a great deal of premeditation that went into these acts," Young said. "This wasn't a quick thought."
Young got involved with the investigation after two men robbed a Far West Bank in Orem Feb. 20, taking money from each of the bank tellers' windows and injuring a bank employee.
While all bank robberies are taken seriously, Young said that the diversionary tactics used that day alarmed police and prompted a more intense investigation.
In the half-hour preceding the robbery, police received two bomb threats over the phone.
One explosive device was found at city offices, but reports of a bomb at an Orem Wells Fargo Bank turned out to be a hoax.
That hoax, however, bore a striking similarity to two attempted bank robberies in January at banks in Clifton and Mesa County, Colo.
At both banks, would-be robbers planted fake explosive devices in bathrooms to persuade bank employees to leave a bag of money outside.
One of those robberies went awry when a 15-year-old girl and her 21-year-old male companion made off with $80,000 in cash placed outside the Alpine Bank in Clifton. The pair have insisted that they happened upon the money by chance while making a deposit.
"They have never been connected to the threats that were made," said Wendy Likes, a public information officer for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.
Likes said Orem police made a connection between the robberies, which spurred a federal investigation. A similar robbery in Herriman on Friday was also linked to the same suspects.
Likes said Colorado police are being cautious concerning the men arrested and a possible connection to the attempted robberies there.
"Obviously, if they are connected and these are our people, we are very, very happy," Likes said.
Young said he is also happy that police were able to quickly locate the suspects.
"I would be less than honest if I didn't say that I spent many sleepless nights thinking about this thing," Young said.
"We ran down hundreds and hundreds of leads that turned out to be nothing. It's a process of elimination until — bam!— you get that big one."
E-mail: lwarner@desnews.com