TIFTON — A man arrested for robbing the DoCo School Employees Federal Credit Union on Love Avenue here Wednesday was on parole for an armed robbery conviction in Dougherty County.

Law enforcement officials with several agencies arrested the man after he wrecked his vehicle off Interstate 75 in Turner County. No one was injured in the incident.

Reginald Bernard Gibson, 27, of Albany, was arrested 15 minutes after Tifton police officers and detectives responded to E-911 dispatches for assistance. Gibson wrecked the white Dodge Neon he was driving after exiting I-75 onto dirt surfaced Peacock Road.

Lt. Raymond Drennon of the Tifton Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division said that Gibson entered DoCo carrying a duffel bag. He approached a teller, pointed a handgun at her and demanded she put money in the bag.

“Another teller comes out of the vault and he tells her to get back into the vault,” Drennon said.

When the first teller filled the suspect’s bag with money, the teller in the vault told him she couldn’t retrieve any money from the vault for him and he left.

The City of Tifton has charged Gibson with armed robbery and kidnapping.

Drennon credited the two tellers with providing investigators with valuable information.

Drennon said the employees were shaken, but managed to give police officers responding a description of the get-away vehicle. They described the suspect as a black male wearing a blue jumpsuit and told officers he left traveling toward 8th Street.

“I applaud the credit union employees for being sharp and alert and giving us a good description,” Drennon said.

Turner County Sheriff Randy Kendrick, who was on the scene of the wreck on Peacock Road, said one of his deputies spotted the getaway car as described by Tift County E-911 dispatchers and fell in behind him. An Ashburn police officer who had also heard the vehicle’s description dispatch was waiting on I-75 near mile post 82.

“He didn’t run when we first jumped up on him,” Kendrick said. “He ran when he got off the interstate. I think he knew something was up when he saw the Ashburn PD unit.”

Kendrick said that Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Ben Collins was riding with a Turner County deputy when the crash occurred. Collins was at the scene of the crash.

“All we could do was collect the evidence in plain view,” Collins said. “We will secure a search warrant from Turner County and collect more evidence from the vehicle.”

Gibson crashed his vehicle approximately a quarter of a mile after hitting the dirt surface of Peacock Road and around a curve. The Neon, with a Champion Motors of Albany drive-out tag, spun around to face the opposite direction and caught on fire. The car burned in the area of the hood and passenger’s side door. It is not believed Gibson was seriously injured because he was soon booked into the Tift County Jail.

Among that evidence recovered from the Neon was a Smith and Wesson .357 believed to have been used in the robbery.

As is policy, Drennon said his department is not releasing the amount of money taken in the robbery. Some money was retrieved and detectives are hoping to match that as cash taken in the robbery by using serial numbers.

Capt. Buddy Dowdy of the TPD was also on the scene of the crash. He said later at the station that enough of what is believed to be marijuana was confiscated from Gibson’s vehicle to charge him with possession with intent to distribute.

“Turner County found several nickel bags,” Dowdy said. “It was a good double-handful.”

Dowdy said Tift County E-911 should also be credited for getting the BOLO (Be On The Look Out) information out to agencies so quickly so the suspect would not slip up the interstate and avoid capture.

Drennon said that agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigations have already been in contact with his office about the incident because of the level of violence involved and the fact that Gibson was serving parole for a previous armed robbery conviction.

Gibson, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections’ web site, was convicted of a Dougherty County armed robbery on Dec. 31, 1993 and sentenced to serve five years. He was also found guilty and sentenced that same year in Dougherty County on charges of possession of marijuana, obstruction of a law enforcement officer, terrorist threats and acts, robbery and possession of cocaine.

According to the web site, Gibson has been incarcerated at the Augusta State Medical Prison with a maximum possible release date of Sept. 25, 2005 and a tentative parole month of July 2003. He was incarcerated at the facility from Nov. 16, 1994 until Dec. 30, 1998 and then again from April 26, 2001 with an unknown release date.

Troopers with Cordele’s State Patrol post are investigating the accident and may have additional charges against Gibson. The Tift County Sheriff’s Department transported Gibson to the Tift County Jail where he remains incarcerated.



To contact reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321, ext. 208.