By Saeed Ahmed, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Six weeks ago, Atlanta police Officer Stanley Street was reprimanded for working an unauthorized extra job.
Tuesday night, Street was arrested, accused of pulling an illegal one.
The 17-year police veteran is charged with robbing a Wachovia bank branch Tuesday morning and is suspected of two other robberies of Wachovia banks since June, authorities said.
Police say Street got off work at his northwest Atlanta precinct at 7 a.m. Tuesday and walked into the branch on Chattahoochee Avenue four hours later.
Chief Richard Pennington said the robber, who was wearing a ski mask and claimed to be carrying a gun and a can of pepper spray, yelled at the tellers to give him the money but “don’t give me the red dye pack like you did last time.”
Of the other two robberies in which Street has been identified as a suspect, one was at the same branch July 20, said Greg Jones, special agent in charge of the Atlanta office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The other was at a different Wachovia branch June 29, the agency said.
After the robbery Tuesday morning, the suspect carefully backed out of the bank parking lot to shield the license plate of his gray Toyota Corolla, police said.
Someone nevertheless saw the car’s tag and called it in to police, leading to Street’s arrest in Clayton County about 8 p.m.
Pennington said that six weeks ago he suspended Street for 15 days after discovering Street was working a second job at an art museum while on administrative leave.
Department policy forbids officers to work elsewhere when facing disciplinary action.
Street’s administrative leave was related to a domestic incident, said police spokesman John Quigley.
Officers in the Zone 1 precinct, which serves northwest Atlanta, reacted on Wednesday with skepticism and surprise about Street’s arrest.
“You’ll have to show me some evidence; he just doesn’t seem that kind of man,” said Carlos Wicker, a day watch officer. “He’s hard-working, energetic. I know he was taking care of his parents.”
Wicker said Street was the kind to help his fellow cops undergoing financial and personal difficulties.
About four years ago, Wicker said, Street contributed money to a fellow officer whose young daughter was suffering from fatal leukemia. The officer no longer lives in Georgia, Wicker said.
Officers at the precinct said they thought Street had sold his house and moved, perhaps to Clayton County, but knew no details.
Wicker described Street as “very conscientious and a help to businesses in the area, giving them tips on safety.”
Day watch Sgt. Victor Lawson said he knew Street, who worked morning watch, only slightly.
“I had minimum contact with him, but I didn’t see any inappropriate behavior,” Lawson said.
He said he learned about the arrest from others in the precinct when he arrived for 7 a.m. roll call today. “It’s disturbing to learn one of your fellow officers is accused of winding up on the wrong side of the law, and you hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Street’s arrest follows that in August 2003 of Officer David Freeman, 38. Freeman was arrested during a morning police roll call by federal authorities, who say that for four years he was a key figure in the Diablos drug gang. The gang operated out of northwest Atlanta, where Freeman grew up and which he later patrolled as a city cop. He remains in federal custody.
Earlier this year, PolicePay.net, a Web site dedicated to police pay and benefits, ranked Atlanta 122nd in police pay among forces in the nation’s 200 largest cities when cost-of-living adjustments are made. Raising police pay is a goal of both Pennington and Mayor Shirley Franklin.
But Pennington was quick to dismiss a question concerning whether Street’s alleged robberies may have been spurred by the low pay.
“I don’t think low pay has anything to do with it,” Pennington said. “I think greed had a lot to do with it. I think breaking the law and thinking he could get away had to do with it.”
-- Staff writer Bill Montgomery contributed to this article.