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By Peter Bodley
Coon Rapids Herald
A woman has been charged in Anoka County District Court for allegedly robbing the TCF Bank located in Cub Foods, 12900 Riverdale Drive N.W., Coon Rapids, Oct. 23.
Shannon Marie Raasch, 35, of Isanti, was arraigned in court Dec. 18 on felony second-degree aggravated robbery and simple robbery charges. She is free after posting bail.
The arrest was made after Coon Rapids Police detectives executed a search warrant Dec. 17 at the woman’s residence in Isanti County.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Oct. 23, a woman handed the teller at the TCF Bank in the Riverdale Cub Foods store a note that stated, “I’m being forced to rob you. My children are being taken. Don’t get the police involved or I’ll kill you and the police.”
The teller placed $2,974 in cash, which included a dye pack, into a large black cloth bag given to her by the woman, who fled on foot. Video surveillance of the woman was obtained from TCF Bank and Cub Foods.
Becoming a suspect
According to Det. John Stahnke, of the Coon Rapids Police Department, Raasch became a suspect in the robbery Nov. 19 after the Pine County Sheriff’s Office was sent to Grand Casino Hinckley on a report of two people gambling or cashing in red dye stained money that was recovered from its bill acceptor/money exchangers and had been passed by a woman.
The woman had left the casino prior to the arrival of the sheriff’s deputies, but the make and license plate information were given to law enforcement, who stopped the car, which was driven by a man, 33, with his wife, Raasch, as the passenger. They agreed to talk to sheriff’s deputies about the potential money exchange.
A Pine County investigator allegedly noticed a visible red stain on the floor mat and carpet area on the front passenger side of the car where Raasch had been seated at the time of the traffic stop.
Video surveillance from the casino, which showed both Raasch and her husband gambling at Grand Casino, allegedly showed Raasch exchanging a red dye stained $100 bill for another $100 booth at the cashier’s booth.
The color of the red stain inside the car allegedly appeared to match the red dye stain on the recovered cash from the casino.
According to the complaint, during interviews with Pine County Sheriff’s detectives, Raasch admitted to possessing the stained $100 bill, but first said she had found it on the floor of the casino, then later stated that she had been given the money by another person, whose identity she would not reveal.
Raasch’s husband alleged he had spent the dye stained money at the casino, both $100 and $20 bills, which he had got from his wife, who had produced the money from her jacket pocket.
Arrested in Cambridge
Aware of the TCF Bank robbery in Coon Rapids in late October, Pine County Sheriff’s detectives “put two and two together” and contacted both the FBI and the Coon Rapids Police Department, said Stahnke, who is investigating the robbery.
The FBI asked Coon Rapids Police to take over the investigation, he said.
Using a 2008 driver’s license photograph of Raasch, Stahnke put together a six-person photo lineup and showed it to the three employees who were inside the TCF Bank at the time of the robbery.
Two of the three allegedly positively identified Raasch as the robber, while the third eliminated the other five women in the photo lineup and alleged that Raasch closely resembled the suspect.
Police executed a search warrant at the Raasch residence Dec. 17 and allegedly seized numerous pieces of evidence, including bank statements and a Grand Casino players card.
Raasch was located and arrested in Cambridge, and an inventory search of her property revealed an ATM deposit totaling $1,080 made the evening of Oct. 24.
In a post-Miranda statement, Raasch allegedly admitted to committing the robbery, but said her husband had no knowledge of the robbery.
Raasch alleged that her husband was in the car when she went into Cub to buy something to drink; he allegedly denied having any knowledge of the robbery to Pine County authorities.
According to the complaint, Raasch said the dye pack exploded as she walked outside after robbing the bank and began smoking inside her shoulder bag.
She allegedly admitted that the red stain on the floor of the car was caused by the dye stained money that she got during the bank robbery.
Raasch also admitted to making an ATM deposit the day after the robbery to pay a foreclosure company $1,000 to stop foreclosure on their home.
According to Stahnke, at the time of her arrest, Raasch was wearing the jeans and shoes she had on during the robbery. She had disposed of the rest of the clothes, Stahnke alleged.
Raasch has no prior criminal record, he said.
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