Serial bank robbery suspect caught after robbing Taylorsville credit union, police say

Posted at 10:15 PM, Sep 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-07 10:22:47-04

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah - Multiple police agencies have been looking for a bank robber for the past few months and on Tuesday Unified police say they got their man.

Jose Ramirez, 23, was arrested for robbing the Mountain American Credit Union in Taylorsville Tuesday afternoon.

"During the interview, Jose admitted that he had robbed two banks previous to this one," said Lt. Lex Bell, spokesman for Unified police.

The other banks include University Credit Union in West Valley City in July and Wells Fargo Bank in Taylorsville in August.

"They'll start to rob more and more banks in shorter and shorter amounts of time so they'll just increase their frequency as they go because to them it's almost like a drug," Bell said.

In both previous robberies security video captured the suspect entering the bank. His plan always seemed to be the same.

"He just provided a note that basically said I have a gun and give us the money, give me all the money and nobody will get hurt," Bell said.

However, Tuesday's robbery was different because police say Jose Ramirez brought along his little brother, 20-year-old Victor, as his get-away driver.

"This is the first one, off the top of my head, I can think of that brothers were involved in a bank robbery," Bell said.

A witness was able to get a good description of the suspects and the car. Less than 10 minutes later they were arrested in a nearby 7-Eleven parking lot.

"As it was pulling in to park the officer was actually pulling into the same parking lot at the same time," Bell said. "He turned on his lights and held them at gunpoint until backup arrived and they could safely take them out of the car."

Police are still looking for another robbery suspect. The Hercules Credit Union, also in Taylorsville, was being robbed around the same time police were arresting the Ramirez brothers. Police don't believe the robberies are connected.

Police are looking for a Hispanic man, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, who was last seen by a witness getting into a blueish-gray Chevy Silverado.

Anyone with information regarding the robbery at the Hercules Credit Union is asked to call Unified police at 801-743-7000.