Wife and Infant Son Held at Gunpoint in Bank Robbery Extortion Plot: FBI

A Tennessee bank executive, along with his wife and infant son, was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to rob the very Knoxville bank he works at, according to authorities.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the brazen plot, which began when two perps armed with handguns and a long gun burst into the family’s home in the Dunbarton Oaks subdivision around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

 

 

Tanner Harris, a vice president and commercial lending officer at SmartBank, along with wife Abbey Harris, was blindfolded and driven in the family car to a bank branch at 202 Advantage Place, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

There, Tanner was forced to go inside and steal the cash while Abbey and the 5-month-old boy were held at gunpoint.

The crooks, described as two white men speaking English without an accent, then took off with the woman and child, leaving Tanner in the bank parking lot, the FBI said.

Fifteen minutes later, the gunmen left Abbey and the baby inside their car off a dirt road and took off. Abbey drove a short distance before pulling into a nearby business and begging for help.

The family was uninjured and the FBI has not said how much cash was stolen.

 

Authorities think a third person may have been involved in the plot.

“There quite possibly could have been a second vehicle that either followed them or met them when they dropped off the family,” FBI Special Agent Ed Reinhold, of the Knoxville FBI office, said at a press conference Tuesday.

The heist bears a striking resemblance to one carried out in April some 25 miles outside Knoxville in Oak Ridge. In that case, the Y-12 Credit Union CEO and his family were kidnapped at a similar time of morning by three suspects — two men and a woman — while the executive was forced to rob his own bank.

 

The CEO’s wife and son were left tied up but unharmed after the robbers took off.

“The similarities between the two robberies are exceptionally good,” Reinhold told WATE-TV. “The bank executive has access to greater amount of funds within the bank, not just what’s in the teller drawers, which is what your typical robber is going to get, something that’s in the teller drawers. It also prevents them from being on camera.”

Authorities and bank officers have warned their employees to change up their routines. They fear that the robbers may have watched the bank bigs before striking.

“There’s a good possibility there was some type of surveillance done on this employee prior to the robbery,” Reinhold said. “Maybe vary your route to and from work so it’s harder for them to follow you.”