UPDATED: ‘BAD HAIR BANDIT’S’ WIFE ALSO ARRESTED BY POLICE

Jason Fox and Tasha Fox.

Williamsburg police have made a second arrest in connection with the apprehension of the Bad Hair Bandit, and both are being lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center without bond pending the filing of federal charges.

Late Friday evening, Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird charged Jason D. Fox, 30, of 23 King Mountain Spur Road, with first-degree robbery in connection with Thursday’s armed robbery of the L&N Federal Credit Union, which is located inside the Williamsburg Walmart. Fox has confessed to robbing a total of seven banks, and of being the so-called Bad Hair Bandit, as he was dubbed by the FBI because of the wigs and various disguises he allegedly wore during the robberies in Southeastern Kentucky and Northern Tennessee.

On Dec. 2, Bird also charged Fox’s wife, Tosha Fox, 27, of Williamsburg, with complicity to commit first-degree robbery for her role in the crime. A federal detainer has been placed on both the husband and wife for their roles in connection with the bank robberies.

Police identified the getaway vehicle, a four-door Suzuki Forenza, Friday morning. Kentucky State Police determined through a 2010 traffic citation that Fox’s wife had been stopped in a 2004 four-door black Suzuki Forenza, Bird said.

Jason Fox’s name came up during Thursday night’s investigation, and Bird said that a family member of Fox’s confirmed that he owned such a vehicle and it had a missing gas cap, Bird said.

During one of the Tennessee robberies Fox is believed to have committed, a witness identified the getaway vehicle as a Forenza with a missing gas cap, Bird added.

At that point, Bird put out a be on the look out notification to surrounding law enforcement agencies, and the vehicle was spotted in Knox County about 1:30 p.m.

"It just so happened that within minutes, Detective Steve Owens of the Barbourville Police Department, who is heading up their bank robbery investigation over there, passed the suspect vehicle within close proximity to the banks there in Barbourville," Bird said.

He said it was "very likely" that Fox was on his way to commit another bank robbery. Owens stopped the vehicle, and detained Fox, who was questioned for over four hours by police.

"He was read his Miranda warning. After a while, once he was faced with a few facts, he agreed to cooperate and he gave a detailed interview to Tennesssee FBI agents," Bird said.

Fox was alone in the vehicle when he was stopped Friday afternoon. Police planned to execute a search warrant at Fox’s home late Friday evening. When they went to secure his home earlier in the day Friday, his wife showed up there, and was detained forquestioning by the FBI.

Bird said that Jason Fox didn’t indicate why he committed the robberies. Since June 9, 2011, the Bad Hair Bandit has robbed six other banks plus Thursday evening’s robbery.

Fox is believed to have robbed banks in Jacksboro, Corbin, Jellico, Barbourville, Pine Knot and most recently Williamsburg.
About 6:13 p.m. Thursday, a lone gunman entered the Williamsburg Walmart and  approached a bank teller at the L&N Federal Credit Union, which is inside the  store.

The suspect was armed with a semi automatic handgun and demanded money. He fled  the store with an undisclosed amount of cash and got into the passenger side of  a waiting car, a late model black four-door sedan with a blown driver’s side headlight.

The vehicle exited the Walmart parking lot and was last seen heading west on Ky. 92 Thursday evening.