Oct. 30--There's no escaping the long arm of the law, said North Augusta Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Tim Pearson.

After spending a few weeks on the run, a bank robbery suspect wanted for an Oct. 8 holdup at a North Augusta bank has been arrested in Atlanta, police said.

Sherrod Jarvis Miller, 47, is being held in the Fulton County jail awaiting extradition to South Carolina where he faces an armed robbery charge.

Around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, a detective with the Atlanta Police Department spotted Miller driving his 1993 Mercury -- the same vehicle linked to the holdup at North Augusta's Wachovia Bank on Georgia Avenue -- and stopped the suspect.

Information on both Miller and the vehicle was entered into a nationwide database shortly after the North Augusta Public Safety identified the 47-year-old as its bank robbery suspect.

Atlanta police accessed the database and found that Miller was wanted.

North Augusta police said witnesses who recorded the getaway vehicle's license-plate number were a big help.

"We found the car was registered to him, and, using his driver's license, we cross-referenced that with the video from the bank," Pearson said.

The two matched up, the lieutenant added.

A witness, who watched the robber exit Wachovia, reported seeing the criminal getting into a burgundy Mercury with a Michigan license plate, and a caller gave police a license-plate number. Witnesses said the man was alone.

The license plate was recorded as being on a 1993 burgundy Mercury Sable registered to Miller of Detroit.

After reviewing Miller's driver's license photo requested from Michigan state police, investigators said his description matched that of the suspect who held up the bank.

The suspect had reportedly walked up to a teller and handed him a note that read, "Give me the money now," police said.

One of the tellers handed over the money but stuck a dye pack in with the cash.

On his way out of bank, the bank robber put the money in a black bag and ran west on West Buena Vista Avenue toward Riverview Park.

The dye pack deployed during the getaway, and much of the money had likely been covered with red paint.

On the day after the robbery, the owner of Five Notch Car Wash called police to report that he found a large sum of dyed money in a coin changer.

Police said the man never showed a weapon or indicated that he had a gun.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.

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