14 DAY TRIAL // A Michigan bank robbery suspect was apprehended by the FBI after posting photos of himself holding a submachine gun he allegedly used in three robberies on Facebook.
21-year-old Jules Bahler, or “King Romeo” as he identifies himself on Facebook, published several selfies with guns, but a picture he posted on March 5 got him arrested on bank robbery charges. “Bought my first house and chopper today… life's great,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
According to some FBI records, the same day, Bahler burst into a Chemical Bank branch in Bay City, Michigan, and threatened the staff with that submachine gun. He allegedly fled with about $7,000 (€5,054).
The man is also accused of robbing two other banks within an eight-day period. Police says he stole $4,300 (€3,140) from Genisys Credit Union on February 26 and $4,000 (€2,888) from a Bank of America branch on March 4.
The Somking Gun informs that during the first two heists, the robber had a different strategy. He passed a note to a bank clerk and demanded money.
Bahler's luck ended when investigators learned about his Facebook page. Unfortunately for him, the suspect seems to have a tendency to overshare on social media, so after analyzing the photos posted by him on the aforementioned site, investigators determined that Bahler’s face matched the images of the robber captured by bank surveillance cameras.
“Affiant looked at these photographs and observed that the individual depicted in the photographs appeared to be the same individual,” the FBI affidavit states.
“Additionally, affiant had an agent from the FBI's Bay City Resident Agency look at the photographs and he indicated that the machine gun looked like the same gun used in the robbery of the Chemical Bank in Bay City.”
Investigators began watching the suspect's home in South Astor St, Pontiac, which also appeared in a photo posted on Facebook. On Friday, they conducted a traffic stop on Bahler after they saw him leaving his house.
The man was arrested and police found the machine gun in a duffel bag inside his car. He confessed to all three robberies and has been charged with bank robbery and carrying a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Detroit tomorrow afternoon for a detention hearing.
Bahler joined Facebook last month and has 206 friends. Some of them claim to have an affiliation to infamous street gangs.