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Former Hernando detention deputy indicted on federal bank robbery charges

 
This month a federal grand jury indicted a former Hernando County detention deputy on charges that she robbed two banks: one last year in Citrus County and one this year in Hillsborough. Elizabeth Perkins, 46, who lives northeast of Brooksville, remains in federal custody in the Pinellas County jail. [Photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
This month a federal grand jury indicted a former Hernando County detention deputy on charges that she robbed two banks: one last year in Citrus County and one this year in Hillsborough. Elizabeth Perkins, 46, who lives northeast of Brooksville, remains in federal custody in the Pinellas County jail. [Photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
Published Aug. 17, 2016

This month a federal grand jury indicted a former Hernando County detention deputy on charges that she robbed two banks: one last year in Citrus County and one this year in Hillsborough.

Elizabeth Perkins, 46, who lives northeast of Brooksville, was already in federal custody in the Pinellas County jail. She was arrested on July 7 by the FBI in the Hillsborough case.

Perkins was indicted on two counts of bank robbery and two counts of forcing people to move without their consent. The Aug. 3 indictment accused Perkins of stealing money from both Brannen Bank in Floral City on March 24, 2015 and Sunshine Bank in Plant City on Feb. 10, 2016.

According to the FBI's complaint filed in July, Perkins visited the Sunshine Bank branch on James L. Redman Parkway in Plant City on Feb. 9 to discuss with the branch manager financing a land purchase. She returned the next day, according to the complaint, and talked to the manager again. Perkins stayed after the bank closed, then forced the manager and another bank employee into the vault at gunpoint, bound them and made off with roughly $110,000 cash, the complaint said.

Perkins did almost the same thing a year earlier at the Brannen Bank on Florida Avenue in Floral City, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. She arrived at the bank near closing time and spoke to employees. When the bank closed, officials said, she brandished a gun, directed the employees in the vault and stole money.

Perkins repeatedly denied her involvement in both robberies, sheriff's officials said. But investigators said fingerprints left behind at both scenes matched the prints she had on file with Corrections Corporation of America, the company that ran the Hernando County jail when Perkins worked there. A bank employee also picked Perkins out of a photo lineup.

Perkins was released on $100,000 bail after her arrest. But Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone revoked her bail days later, calling Perkins "a risk of flight and danger to the community," according to court hearing minutes.