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| Man suspected of Bath bank robbery pleads not guilty in court |
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By Tom Marshall
Senior Advocate writer
Steven Thomas Arrasmith has pleaded not guilty to the recent robbery of the Salt Lick Deposit Bank.
Arrasmith, 54, is charged with first degree robbery in connection with the Jan. 21 robbery of the bank. He entered a not guilty plea during arraignment last week in Bath County District Court.
A preliminary hearing was held in the case Tuesday. At the hearing Judge Don Blair bound the case over to the next Bath County Grand Jury, which meets March 4.
Arrasmith is also a suspect in three robberies and one attempted robbery at check exchange businesses in Montgomery County.
Authorities plan to present that case directly to a Montgomery County Grand Jury. The next grand jury meets here Feb. 12.
Arrasmith faces another attempted robbery charge in Clark County.
His arrest resulted from a joint investigation by the Mt. Sterling Police Department and Kentucky State Police.
They developed Arrasmith as a suspect after he reportedly attempted to pass bills with red dye on them. A bank teller had placed a red dye pack in a bag of money handed over to the suspect that later exploded, according to police.
Authorities received an arrest warrant for him and took him into custody. They also served a search warrant on a Buick LeSabre he had access to and reportedly recovered a ski mask, bills of cash and evidence of a dye pack explosion, police said.
The Mt. Sterling robberies included one Jan. 7 at Check Advance in Gateway Plaza, Jan. 12 at Check Exchange on Burley Way and a third Jan. 18 at Cash A Check on East Main Street.
In each crime the suspect wore a mask, pulled a knife and demanded money from an employee.
There were also two attempted robberies reported at Check Advance at Main and Queen Streets and another at Advanced America in Winchester.
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