A seemingly routine arrest for relatively minor offenses has led to the apprehension of a man wanted on the mainland for carjacking and armed robbery. He may also be connected with a series of bank robberies in the Virgin Islands, according to a report in a Virginia newspaper.
Matthew John Hall, 26, of Camp Springs, Md., was arrested on St. John for possession of stolen goods. He was later indicted, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Mabe, on three counts of making false statements to a National Park ranger. Hall gave the ranger three different false names, Mabe said.
An article in Friday's Arlington Journal said that when fingerprint checks were run on Hall, St. Thomas authorities discovered he was wanted by the Alexandria, Va., police in connection with a carjacking in November and other robberies in the area. The Journal article also said Hall was being investigated by the FBI in the Virgin Islands in connection with a series of bank robberies.
Alexandria police spokeswoman Amy Bertsch told St. Thomas Source that Hall left the Baltimore-Washington International Airport on Nov. 20, headed for St. Thomas.
Hall is described as a male Caucasian, 25 to 30 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 190 pounds.
Though Hall's connection remains unconfirmed, three bank robberies were committed in the V.I. in December. The first was at Chase Manhattan Bank on the Waterfront on St. Thomas on Dec. 9, rapidly followed by another on Dec. 13 at the Bank of Nova Scotia, also on St. Thomas' Waterfront. A week later on Dec. 21 a man fitting the same description robbed the V.I. Community Bank on St. Croix. The man was described as a Caucasian, 6 feet tall with dark hair and a slender build.
Mabe said he could neither confirm nor deny that the FBI was conducting an investigation into Hall as a suspect in those robberies.
An FBI spokesperson in Puerto Rico, Sara Lema, said the FBI cannot "disclose any information about ongoing investigations."
Hall is reportedly in federal custody in Puerto Rico.