Postal carrier pegs bank robbers

WARWICK, RI (WPRI) - An alert postal carrier pegs two bank robbers in Warwick.

Warwick Police arrest a man and woman in connection with a bank robbery Monday.

According to police, the duo entered the Citizens Bank on Strawberry Field Road shortly before 11am. Once the female suspect was at the counter, she handed the bank teller a threatening note demanding cash.

The man involved acted like a lookout during the robbery. The pair then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

"This was an alleged spontaneous robbery according to them, where they were walking through the neighborhood and they decided their need for money, according to them, for drugs lead them to commit the bank robber," said Warwick Police Major Sean Collins.

Minutes after leaving the bank, a postal carrier spotted a couple matching the pairs’ description entering a house on Alfred Street in Warwick.

Major Collins said, "Our officers canvassing the area came across a postman who was delivering in the neighborhood, who happened to see a blond female run into a house."

Police were called to the home where they arrested Leigh Bateson Ricci and Michael Sarandos Jr.  Both were taken into custody.

The money was returned in full, to the bank.

Ricci and Sarandos are both charged with one count of second degree robbery and one count conspiracy to commit robbery.

They will both be arraigned in WarwickThird District Court.