As United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, William J. Ihlenfeld II prefers to use hard numbers and facts when discussing matters. Call it, perhaps, a casualty of his occupation.

 

At the same time, Ihlenfeld also doesn’t need finalized numbers for a year that’s slightly more than halfway complete to believe that there’s a surge in bank robberies in the district he’s covered. All he needs to do is pay attention to his area of responsibility and even watch the media.

 

“The FBI annually comes out with a report showing statistics for robberies and all other types of crimes nationally, in West Virginia and even within municipalities,” said Ihlenfed. “Without that, I can’t say definitively that there has been an uptick in armed robberies,” said Ihlenfeld. “What I can tell you is that from talking to law enforcement and my colleagues throughout the district, and from what I read in media reports throughout North Central West Virginia, there does appear to be an uptick in robberies.”

 

In recent months, armed robberies have become frequent in the media reports Ihlenfeld mentioned. Most notably, Monongalia County has been hit with several armed robberies. One bank, in fact, was robbed twice and an attempted third robbery was only thwarted because the bank had yet to open.

 

For those thinking Harrison County and Bridgeport were immune to the problem had a rude awakening earlier this month. On July 7 – just before noon – a man walked into the Huntington Banks at White Oaks and committed an armed robbery. Bridgeport, unfortunately, had joined the list of cities victimized by the violent crime of armed robbery

 

Ihlenfeld’s home base of operations also isn’t safe from what appears to be a trend. He said that in Wheeling there were recently a series of robberies, “three in a couple of weeks.”

 

“It seems as if we’re seeing more instances of those types of very bold and brazen crimes by individuals who appear to be someone that is very desperate to go to those lengths,” Ihlenfeld said.

 

That, of course, begs the question as to why so many armed robberies in recent months? And the answer is one Ihlenfeld said could be tied in with what he described most recently as an epidemic in West Virginia.

 

“They do seem to be drug related. The crimes we’ve witnessed do not appear to be sophisticated operations,” Ihlenfeld said. “It’s more of a situation where you have street level criminals in desperate need of obtaining money they can use in acquiring controlled substances.”

 

Ihlenfeld said that his office has adjudicated a handful of bank robberies. He said without the information in front of him, he can’t recall the exact motives in those cases. At the same time, he said he knows many here and beyond are drug related.

 

“I’m not sure what the percentage is, but it’s very high,” said Ihlenfeld. “We investigate and prosecute crimes, many of a violent nature, that are frequently related to drugs.”

 

The relationship isn’t a positive one between violent crimes and drugs, but Bridgeport and Harrison County does have a resource to combat it in the appropriately named Harrison County Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force. The Bridgeport and Clarksburg Police Departments, along with the West Virginia State Police, have been joined by several other government agencies on this task force. The Task Force has been involved with the matter since day one due to the fact armed robbery falls under the violent crime portion of the group, which is chaired by Bridgeport Police Chief John Walker.

 

“(The Bridgeport robbery was) a violent crime. Groups such as (the task force) might investigate bank robberies and homicides and if there ends up being a drug connection, they’re suited to follow those leads to reach a conclusion,” said Ihlenfeld. “The Task Force has resources that the officer in a patrol car doesn’t have, but both the ultimate mission of both is to make the community safe.”

 

Ihlenfeld said it won’t be unusual if the Harrison County Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force end up solving the Bridgeport armed robbery case. He said during his time as a prosecutor, he’s seen a lot of significant crimes from homicides, double homicides, sexual assaults and beyond brought to the table and reach a conclusion due to the efforts of various task forces in the Northern District.

 

“They have such a large network of information that they can tap into through the confidential informants that there’s always a good chance they’ll be involved in breaking a violent crime such as this,” said Ihlenfled.

 

And when Bridgeport’s armed robbery case is solved, Ihlenfeld said there’s one thing that won’t surprise him.

 

“I don’t know it to be the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is directly related to drug use,” said Ihlenfeld. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of William Ihlenfeld with Bridgeport Police Chief John Walker in the background. Bottom photo, courtesy of the Bridgeport Police Department, is a surveillance photo of the man wanted for the armed robbery of Huntington Bank at White Oaks.