A Gary couple indicted on bank robbery charges Friday are suspected in a string of a dozen robberies in Indiana, Illinois, Ohion and California, including a $10,000 heist in Los Angeles that ended with their capture, according to court documents.
Artez Brewer, 29, is charged with three counts of bank robbery and his alleged accomplice, Robin Pawlak, 30, is charged with two counts of bank robbery, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Hammond. They are suspected in at least a dozen bank robberies, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the Los Angeles bank robbery.
The federal indictment alleges that on April 28, Brewer and Pawlak robbed Centier Bank in Griffith. In addition, Brewer allegedly robbed Main Source Bank in Crown Point, and on May 27, Brewer and Pawlak allegedly teamed up again to rob Horizon Bank in Whiting.
Brewer and Pawlak’s suspected bank robbery activities extended outside Northwest Indiana to Los Angles. FBI agents tracked them to Los Angeles and watched them as they staked out a bank and went to a Taco Bell for a meal, then captured them following a robbery that netted them $10,240, according to the affidavit.
They were arrested June 10 in the robbery of Banner Bank, federal authorities say. They are scheduled to go on trial in that robbery Aug. 9 and will then be transferred to Indiana to face charges.
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.