Rockdale Citizen

Charles Ardister

CONYERS -- Police arrested a man thought to be responsible for the Conyers BB&T bank robbery last month as well as two other bank robberies in Douglas County and in Alabama.

Charles Kennedy Ardister, 45, was arrested by Conyers Police officers Friday at Hunters Pointe, off Pine Log Road.

Ardister is a suspect in the April 3 robbery of BB&T bank located at 1887 Ga. Highway 20.

The robber entered the bank shortly after 9 a.m. that day, according to previous CPD incident reports, and demanded money. Police officials previously said no weapon was displayed during the heist, but the robber told bank employees to put money in a bag or he would harm them.

In a press release, Capt. Scott Freeman with Conyers Police said Ardister was considered a suspect after investigations of bank robberies at Community Southern Bank in Douglasville and Regions Bank in Birmingham, Ala. Conyers Police and the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office worked with other law enforcement agencies on the investigation. All the robberies occurred within a couple weeks of each other and involved the robber passing a note to the teller.

The information from the various law enforcement agencies helped link Ardister to a previous stop by an RCSO deputy. Freeman explained police compared photos from the deputy's in-car video to images of the robber on the bank's surveillance camera.

"And the similarities of the suspect and Ardister were overwhelming," Freeman said.

Police obtained a search warrant and arrested Ardister at the Hunters Pointe condominium, where he was reportedly staying with a relative. Freeman said RCSO investigators and police detectives interviewed Ardister and he admitted to robbing all three banks in Conyers, Douglasville and Birmingham, Ala.

Ardister indicated he was planning to leave the state right before he was arrested, Freeman added.

"This was a joint effort of multiple jurisdictions working together to apprehend a serial bank robber," Freeman said. "Thanks to efforts of the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office, we were able to get some concrete information to identify (Ardister). With that information, the pieces of the puzzle quickly fell in place, and we were able to arrest Ardister, who was preparing to leave the state only moments before the SWAT team moved in to arrest him."

There were multiple locations for Ardister's residential address in police records, including Conyers, Elberton and Birmingham, Ala.

Ardister faces robbery charges out of Douglas County and Conyers. Additional charges out of Birmingham, Ala., were pending as of Tuesday.