Accused bank robber nabbed

By Karla Ward - kward1@herald-leader.com

An alleged bank robber was nabbed after being spotted at Wal-Mart, but not before he used some of the cash to buy himself an SUV, Richmond police said.

A branch of the Madison Bank on Main Street in Richmond was robbed at gunpoint at about 8:50 a.m. Monday. The robber ran from the bank and was seen getting into a car on nearby Water Street and driving away.

At about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Maj. Steve Gregg of the Richmond police saw a man in Wal-Mart who matched the robber's description. Another officer stopped the man, driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer, near Boggs Lane and the Eastern Kentucky Bypass. The man, Leon Rozell Noland Jr., 47, was taken into custody, according to a press release.

Police say they later learned that Noland had bought the Trailblazer in Somerset shortly after the bank robbery. He paid cash. The car used in the robbery had been found in Somerset Monday.

When investigators searched the motel room Noland had rented at The Country Hearth on the Eastern Bypass, they say they found most of the money taken in the robbery and a handgun. Including the cash paid for the Trailblazer, police said all but a few hundred dollars of the money was recovered.

Noland was charged with first-degree robbery and taken to the Madison County Detention Center.