OCALA, Fla. — Officers released a picture of A former Marion County deputy who is behind bars, accused of robbing a bank over the weekend.
When police arrested 40-year-old Christina Thagard, she’s seen wearing a pink and black shirt as she’s surrounded by Ocala Police in the middle of State Road 200 on Saturday morning.
But roughly 15 minutes earlier, she looked much different in black. Sgt Mike Hilton, Ocala Police Department, explains, “She was pretty much covered from head to toe.”
Hilton asserts that Thagard committed robbery at the TD Bank.
According to investigators, Thagard gave a teller a note stating, “I have a gun and I will shoot if any alarms or dye packs are enclosed.” She instructed the teller to fill her bag with 50 thousand dollars in big bills only and to wait two minutes to call the police.
Officers say Thagard tried pretending she didn’t do anything, saying, “Oh my God. What is going on?”
As law enforcement arrested Thagard, investigators say they found five thousand dollars of stolen money, medical gloves, clothing and more evidence tied to the robbery.
Hilton says, “She was in denial.” According to officers, Thagard is a former Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy who worked at the agency as a road patrol deputy from 2003 to 2016. Records show she’s also been arrested for battery, domestic violence, petit theft and not having a driver’s license.
We asked bank customer Gene Rivera what he thought. He replied, “It’s awful.”
Rivera continues, “It’s disappointing, but it’s hard to say what happens in people lives and why they make the decisions that they make.”
Despite the fact that Thagard was concealed during the robbery, it is asserted that there is evidence implicating her involvement.
“Using the banks security camera system and some other techniques, we were able to definitively say we got the right person.”
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