9/6/2008

A Salina man was arrested Saturday night in Dickinson County for the robbery of Bennington State Bank on South Ninth. Dennis Ray Winters, 39, 818 Gypsum, was being held in the Dickinson County Jail after a traffic stop in the eastern part of the county shortly after 8 p.m., said Salina Police Lt. Chris Trocheck. Salina police were en route to Dickinson County to talk to Winters at 8:30 p.m. Trocheck said Winters may be transported to Saline County. A Dickinson County Sheriff’s dispatcher said she could not release any information when contacted Saturday evening. Geary County deputies observed Winters’ car, which met the description of the vehicle being sought in connection with the robbery, and followed it into Dickinson County before making the stop, Trocheck said. Winters is accused of walking into the bank at 3:15 p.m. Friday and handing a teller a note demanding money and leaving with an undisclosed amount of cash. The robber left the bank on foot and may have gotten into a light brown passenger car. A police spokesman said he couldn’t say whether the robber showed a weapon. A Salina Journal photographer found a bundle of $20 bills in the gutter on 10th Street just a few yards north of Walnut while photographing the crime scene. The bundle’s red dye pack had exploded, marking the bills with the dye and rendering them useless to spend. Photos of the suspect from bank surveillance cameras were made public early Friday evening. It was the fourth robbery at the bank since 2005.