Accused Anchorage bank robber caught with stolen car in Valley

WASILLA — Authorities arrested a man accused of bank robbery after discovering his car blocking a local road, according to reports.

Alaska State Troopers contacted James Surrells, 45, of Anchorage Aug. 16 and arrested him when they learned he was wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of robbing a First National Bank of Alaska branch in East Anchorage three days prior.

Trooper Chris Green spotted a silver Dodge minivan blocking the westbound lane of Hollywood Road near the intersection with Valley View Drive, according to a sworn affidavit filed in superior court Aug. 17. Nearby pedestrians told him they’d seen a man with a gas can standing in front of the van go into a vacant house near the intersection.

A license check revealed the plate was stolen out of Anchorage, so Green called for backup and began searching the area for the man. Green and another trooper eventually located the man on a bike path near Goose Bay Elementary School.

Upon searching the car, the troopers “discovered the cut bottom of a soda can that contained a small amount of what is known to me as heroin, based on my training and experience,” Green wrote.

Surrells initially told police he was James Johnson, and that he was 20 years old, but that information did not match information in the police database. When Green put Surrells in an interview room and told him that name was false, Surrells admitted his identity, according to the affidavit.

Authorities charged Surrells with first-degree vehicle theft, fourth-degree drug misconduct, misuse of license plates, and lying to a peace officer. The district attorney’s office dismissed the drug charge without prejudice, and a grand jury indicted him on the vehicle theft charge, court records show.

Surrells may have had good reason to attempt to conceal his identity. A separate affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage by special agent Daryl Allison says a man family members identified as Surrells went into the bank about Aug. 13 and displayed a note reading “I have a gun. Give me 100’s, 50’s, and 20’s.”

“When she leaned forward to read the note, the individual motioned for her to move backwards, and placed his hand inside his coat and onto the butt of a gun that was concealed inside the coat,” Allison wrote.

The teller gave him about $1,000 in cash, according to the federal affidavit.

Authorities were initially unable to locate or identify Surrells until an anonymous tipster and relatives identified him from a series of security camera stills circulated by local media outlets, Allison wrote.

FBI agents charged Surrells with bank robbery Aug. 27. Surrells was held in custody Thursday afternoon at Mat-Su Pretrial Detention Facility on a $5,000 cash or corporate bond with a court-appointed third party custody requirement.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com