Maryland police arrest alleged bank robber wielding stolen cat: ‘Tried to use her as an accessory’

‘The shelter recounted how the bank robbery suspect first snatched Magnolia from her ‘adoption habitat’ at Beltsville’s Pet Supplies Plus store. Photograph: Beltsville Community Cats View image in fullscreen ‘The shelter recounted how the bank robbery suspect first snatched Magnolia from her ‘adoption habitat’ at Beltsville’s Pet Supplies Plus store. Photograph: Beltsville Community Cats Maryland police arrest alleged bank robber wielding stolen cat: ‘Tried to use her as an accessory’ Police say suspect stole three-and-a-half-month-old tuxedo kitten Magnolia before attempting to rob a PNC bank In this day and age, law enforcement agencies worldwide are accustomed to dealing with cat burglars – but now a Maryland police department is saying it grappled with a cat-wielding bank robber. The Prince George’s county police department said its officers arrested a man suspected of stealing a cat and then taking the animal with him to a PNC bank branch in the local community of Beltsville to rob the establishment on Monday morning. View image in fullscreen Emily Mullen, a Pet Supplies Plus employee, holds Magnolia. Photograph: Beltsville Community Cats “The cat was returned” after the suspect was arrested, the police department said in a statement to the Guardian on Tuesday. The agency said no injuries were reported, and it declined to name the suspect or release additional details, saying the case – bound for a spot in the annals of bizarre reported US crimes – remained under investigation. Nonetheless, a social media post from rescue shelter Beltsville Community Cats provided more information. A Beltsville Community Cats Facebook page post on Monday identified the cat at the center of the alleged botched caper as Magnolia, a three-and-a-half-month-old tuxedo kitten. The shelter recounted how the suspect first snatched Magnolia from her “adoption habitat” at Beltsville’s Pet Supplies Plus store, took her across the parking lot to a PNC branch, and “tried to use her as an accessory in [an] attempted robbery”. “He asked the bank manager to hold the kitten while he wrote a note, then handed the note to a teller demanding all the cash,” the post continued. “Thankfully, the robbery was unsuccessful, the suspect was arrested, and Magnolia was found safe and sound in the bank manager’s office, where the two had bonded over their shared ordeal.” Pet Supplies Plus store employees told the NBC affiliate in nearby Washington DC that Magnolia’s cat napper had come in daily for about two weeks and focused on the kitten each time. Finally, on Monday, he managed to use a key to open a cat adoption area and whisked Magnolia away, store employees said to the outlet, WRC. Store manager Aaron Kurkowski told WRC that Magnolia’s thief “came in and saw none of my team was nearby the front – and he just went right to her and ran right on out”. According to WRC, Stephanie Stullich of Beltsville Community Cats then received a call from a pet store employee who alerted her to Mag