Alleged Duffield bank robbery suspect took car for test drive, used it as getaway car

GATE CITY -- Scott County authorities arrested a Big Stone Gap woman at her home Thursday night in connection with a robbery that occurred the day before at the BB&T Bank in Duffield.

Tabitha Nicole Sullivan, 27, Main Avenue West, Big Stone Gap, is currently being held at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Duffield on charges of robbery.

Authorities said Sullivan took a total of $2,373 from the bank. Approximately $300 was reportedly recovered from her residence.

Sullivan’s arrest came after authorities with the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations spent nearly 36 hours following as many as 15 separate leads in an attempt to locate her.

Scott County Sheriff John Puckett said investigators were able to establish Sullivan’s identity after learning the car she allegedly used to make her getaway had been borrowed for a test drive from a local auto dealership.

“She was in a small black car with aftermarket wheels on it,,” Puckett said. “We got some information that a car fitting that description was at a used car lot in Big Stone Gap. We sent an officer over to talk to the owner and he confirmed that a female came in the day before and tried a vehicle out and kept it "a little longer than normal.”

Sullivan reportedly used false identification to take the car on a test drive, Puckett said.

Puckett said employees at the dealership told officers Sullivan was wearing the same clothes she had on in a surveillance video taken from one of the banks she allegedly entered the day of the robbery.

Sullivan was allegedly seen in that video wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt with a light blue “DC” logo and pink scrub pants. She was also allegedly wearing sunglasses and a surgical mask over her face.

After being taken into custody by Scott County investigators, Puckett said Sullivan told officers that she had carried out the robbery.

“She admitted that she robbed the bank and said she was behind in some payments and needed some money,” Puckett said.

The incident happened at approximately 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the BB&T branch located at 466 Duff Patt Road, Duffield.

Although other customers were inside the bank at the time, no one was injured in the incident, authorities said.

According to police and witness accounts, Sullivan presented a teller with a slip of paper asking demanding that she be given unmarked bills without dye packs.

Sullivan allegedly told the teller that a car containing a bomb was parked outside the bank.

After receiving the money, witnesses told investigators that Sullivan walked to her car in an adjacent parking lot before turning onto Highway 58.

Prior to visiting BB&T, Sullivan reportedly went into Powell Valley National Bank, which is also located in Duffield, in an attempt to open an account there.

Both the BB&T branch and Powell Valley National Bank were temporarily closed Wednesday as authorities gathered evidence and carried out their investigation.

“Our investigators, and the state police did an excellent job,” Puckett said. “When you can solve a bank robbery in a little over a day, that’s pretty good.”