Update: Suspected female bank robber dubbed The Freedom Bandit arrested

Update

The FBI in Atlanta announced that Nilsa Marie Urena, 25, was arrested in Tennessee shortly after robbing the Upper Cumberland Federal Credit Union near Nashville on Saturday. Urena is suspected of robbing several Atlanta area banks including the BB&T in Loganville and Georgia’s own Credit Union in Grayson.

At the TRIAD meeting in Loganville on Friday, Loganville Police Chief Mike McHugh said that the FBI was hot on her trail.

“I’m sure they’ll get her,” he said. “I believe I’d rather have the IRS after me than the FBI.”

It appears he was right. She was arrested in Tennesee little more than 24 hours later. According to the FBI, Urena was dubbed “The Freedom Bandit” because she told bank employees at the time of the robberies that she was doing it for a cause.

Urena is suspected in several bank robberies and attempted bank robberies including:

• Hamilton State Bank located at 519 Hardee Street, Dallas, Georgia on Jan. 25.
• BB&T Bank, 4464 Atlanta Highway, Loganville, Georgia, on January 19, 2018
• First National Bank, 1501 West McIntosh Road, Griffin, Georgia, on December 13, 2017
• First Citizens Bank, 36 GA-72, Comer, Georgia, on December 4, 2017
• Bank of the Ozarks, 9001 Hospital Drive, Douglasville, Georgia, on November 3, 2017
• Georgia’s Own Credit Union, 2437 Loganville Highway, Grayson, Georgia, on November 3, 2017
• Citizen Trust Bank, 2727 Panola Road, Lithonia, Georgia, on November 1, 2017
• Associated Credit Union, 5032 Old Grant Road, Ellenwood, Georgia, on October 30, 2017

And the following attempted robbery:

• Wells Fargo Bank, 6063 Memorial Drive, Stone Mountain, Georgia, on October 30, 2017

Update:

Do you recognize this suspect in the robbery Friday morning at the BB & T in Loganville? If so, or if you have any information in connection with the incident, you are asked to contact the Loganville Police Department at 770-466-8087 and ask for Detective Hunt.

Initial story:

The Loganville Police Department is currently working a robbery at the BB & T in Loganville. According to Loganville Police Chief Mike McHugh, it was not an armed robbery, but the bank was robbed on Friday morning.  Loganville public information officer Robbie Schwartz said police responded to a call at 9:37 a.m. of a robbery at the BB& T on Highway 78. The suspect is a black female who did escape into a nearby vehicle that was last seen heading westbound on Highway 78.

“The LPD investigation remains ongoing and is being coordinated with the FBI and as a result no additional details are available at this time,” Schwartz said.