Police: Woman took cab to robbery

A woman caught a cab to a Mobile bank, robbed it, then got back into her taxi and left for a local motel room Wednesday, police said.

Faith Sullivan, 55, was charged with first-degree robbery in the 9 a.m. holdup of the Compass Bank on Bel Air Boulevard, police said in a news release.

"It would be safe to say that no one has hailed a cab to rob a bank," Mobile police spokeswoman Nancy Johnson said Wednesday. "This is new."

Sullivan, of Mobile, was arrested about noon at the Motel 6 on South Beltline Highway. A male acquaintance was also taken into custody but was released after police determined that he did not take part in the robbery, police said.

Police said Sullivan was driven to the bank, walked in, indicated that she had a weapon and demanded money from the teller, Johnson said. She walked out of the bank, got back in the same taxi she arrived in, and went back to the motel, police said.

The taxi driver was sur prised to learn that he had been used for a robbery, Johnson said. Police found the driver and interviewed him after he dropped his customer at the motel.

"He is not being considered an accomplice," Johnson said. "He was stunned by the information and appeared to be quite alarmed" when police told him what happened.

Johnson declined to release the name of the taxi company or say how the cab fare was paid.

Sullivan was booked into Mobile County Metro Jail on Wednesday afternoon.