Police officer turns bank robber

ATLANTA (Reuters) - An Atlanta policeman has confessed to a string of armed bank robberies in the Southern U.S. city, according to the FBI.


Stanley Street, a 17-year veteran of the city police department, admitted to FBI agents this week that he robbed three Wachovia bank branches at gunpoint this summer, FBI agent Chad Fitzgerald said in a written statement in federal court in Atlanta on Wednesday.


Street, who took about $90,000 (50,000 pounds) and threatened to kill bank employees during his heists, said he needed money to support his 6-year-old daughter and pay the staff of his private security firm.


He was tripped up after a Wachovia customer observed him getting into a car following a bank robbery on Tuesday. The witness followed Street's car and telephoned the license plate number to a 911 operator.


Street said he decided to rob Wachovia branches after discussing security procedures with bank staff.