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Surveillance leads to robber arrest

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by Courtney Johnson

Monday, March 5, 2007

The Madison Police Department has apprehended a suspect in Wednesday's robbery of an East Washington Avenue Amcore Bank.

Madison resident Christopher Coster, 34, was arrested Thursday night at a home also located on East Washington Avenue and is currently being held at the Dane County Jail.

According to Mike Hanson, public information officer for the MPD, the exceptionally clear surveillance photographs of the suspect helped to quickly apprehend him.

"It was excellent technology which provided a very clear, distinct picture," Hanson said. "Before, what we had seen was the top of a suspect's head or different angles that weren't able to give such a precise picture."

To date, Coster has been found guilty of 25 charges in Dane County, including retail theft, operating a vehicle with a revoked license, stalking and criminal trespassing, among others.

"From my experience in court with him, the vast majority of his crimes have the motivation of being drug addiction issues," Dane County Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer said.

As of Thursday, Coster had four additional warrants out for his arrest.

"He missed court on his pending cases in the last month, so there are warrants that are holding him in jail," Verveer said.

According to Verveer, who will be seeing Coster in court within the next week, Coster's criminal past will have a large impact on his sentence.

"His criminal record is a major factor in what his sentence will end up being if he's convicted of this, or anything else, frankly," Verveer said.

Hanson said the MPD has yet to discover if Coster was involved in any of the other bank robberies that have occurred recently in the area, such as the January robbery of the Capitol Square Anchor Bank.

"At this point, it's still too early to tell because the detectives need to talk to him," Hanson added.

The robbery marks the second time in less than three months that the Amcore Bank branch has been robbed — another robbery occurred in late December of last year.

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