KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Authorities are investigating any potential links between the kidnapping of a bank employee here earlier this week and the kidnapping/extortion at Y-12 FCU in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in April.
Tuesday’s event marks the fourth time this year a financial institution employee has been kidnapped in an effort to rob the FI where the person works. Three of the abduction/robberies have taken place in Tennessee.
Early Tuesday morning two men broke into the West Knoxville home of Tanner Harris, first vice president and commercial lending officer at SmartBank, and took the family hostage, according to published reports. Tanner was forced to withdraw money from the bank.
As is case with all previous abduction/robberies to date this year, the alleged perpetrators of this latest crime are still at large. The descriptions of the suspects in the Y-12 FCU and SmartBank cases are very vague, but similar, the FBI reported. FBI agent Ed Reinhold told WBIR there are "strong similarities" between the two incidents, and while they can't be positive, it's "quite possible" they are related.
According to reports, the crooks blindfolded Tanner and his wife. Tanner was handcuffed, and the pair, along with an infant, were forced into their own vehicle, a silver Mazda 6. The armed men drove the family from their home on Swathmore Court to the bank, which is located in the 200 block of Advantage Place off Cedar Bluff Road.
With his wife and baby in the car, Tanner was forced to go inside the bank and get an undisclosed amount of cash. Once he gave it to them, the men left him standing in the parking lot and drove off. The men left the car with the mother and baby inside on Fox Road. She was able to drive until she found help. No one was harmed.
The rash of kidnappings began in February at Achieve Financial Credit Union in Connecticut. In that case CFO Matthew Yussman alleged that he was confronted in his home by robbers who forced him to wear a bomb vest and drive to his credit union to get money.
In April, Mark Ziegler, CEO at Y-12, was kidnapped. Authorities reported that Ziegler and his family were held hostage in their home as part of an alleged attempted robbery and extortion plot engineered by two men and a woman. The crooks were not successful in getting money from Y-12.
And then in June, the 64-year-old manager of the 8082 Rockcreek Cove office of FAA CU in Memphis, Tenn., was allegedly kidnapped at her home by two men who forced to her travel to the credit union to obtain funds. According to the Memphis Police Department, the victim was forced to drive her car to the credit union and then let the two men into the branch. There the two men robbed the CU and fled with an undisclosed amount of money in a bag, scattering cash outside the CU when a dye pack exploded in the money sack.
The FBI does has stated that they do not think the Memphis kidnapping is related to the Knoxville area crimes.
The FBI in Knoxville is again urging FI staff in the area to take proper precautions in their personal lives. Following the Y-12 incident, the FBI issued a warning to all bank and credit union employees in the area to use caution and follow all security measures before, during and after the workday.
The warnings are in line with concerns CUToday.info first reported regarding criminals increasingly targeting FI executives in their homes as a means of extorting money. The earlier interview with an expert from CUNA Mutual on this security issue can be found here.