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Apparently, a man matching the description of a Savannah Bank robbery suspect: a white male, blond, about 6 feet tall, heavy Southern accent, wearing a blue T-shirt, jean shorts and a blue baseball cap, approached someone in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn -- less than a block from the bank at 852 William Hilton Parkway -- to ask for a jump for his green, 1995 BMW 740, Beaufort County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Cpl. Robin McIntosh said.
"He told someone he needed a jump; that his car battery was dead," McIntosh said. "That person became aware of the police presence in the area and called to report a suspicious man in the parking lot."
Robert Williams McKelvy, 43, was arrested about an hour after the 2:45 p.m. robbery in the parking lot of the mid-island Atrium Building at 842 William Hilton Parkway on charges related to the bank robbery, she said.
The Hilton Head Island resident and former vacation time-share agent was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at the Beaufort County Detention Center on Wednesday morning and will face federal charges in connection with the robbery, now being investigated by the FBI, McIntosh said.
It was not McKelvy's first brush with the law.
According to Beaufort County Court Records, McKelvy pleaded guilty in December 2006 to criminal check fraud charges.
He also is wanted by the Nevada County, Calif., Sheriff's Office in connection with his failure to appear in court on other unrelated charges, according to a Nevada County Sheriff's Office most wanted list.
"The arrest (on Hilton Head) was due to a combination of law enforcement presence, witnesses and the canine team," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Tuesday. "Deputies started a perimeter as best they could because it involved a pretty large area, but we also had great community involvement."
'FIRST SIGHTING'
The incident began when a man entered the mid-island Savannah Bank at 852 William Hilton Parkway, told tellers he had a gun and demanded cash.
After getting an undisclosed amount of money, the suspect ran away. He at first headed south, but realized he was headed in the wrong direction, McIntosh said. He then ran north along nearby power lines toward Shelter Cove, she said.
"The first sighting was that of a suspicious man climbing over a fence near the Hargray building," she said. McKelvy apparently jumped the fence and landed in the Long Cove Club gated community.
Once inside, he popped up in the backyard of a home on Fife Lane, where a woman who was sitting on her back deck offered him a glass of water and some help, McIntosh said.
"She noticed that he was out of breath and sweating," she said. "She also offered to call EMS, and he spoke to her for a few minutes."
McKelvy apparently declined the offer of a drink and help. The woman then called Long Cove security, but the suspect was gone before they arrived, McIntosh said. That witness declined to discuss the incident.
'MOBILE THE WHOLE TIME'
McKelvy then flagged down a passing contractor's van and caught a ride to the nearby Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce complex, McIntosh said.
From there, he walked to his home at Harbourside II apartments on Shelter Cove Lane where he took a quick shower and changed clothes before walking back to the BMW he had been driving earlier outside of the Atrium Building, McIntosh said.
That's when he asked for a jump start and a witness called authorities to report a suspicious man sitting in a green BMW in the building's parking lot, she said.
"He was mobile the whole time," McIntosh said. "There were a lot of things that worked in our favor."
Deputies did not find any weapons on McKelvy, and he currently is the only suspect in the bank robbery.
McIntosh could not say if investigators found the stolen cash. Sheriff's deputies and tracking dogs searched the area Wednesday morning for any trace evidence related to the incident, she said.
"These sightings really helped put us in the right area at the right time," McIntosh said. "Getting good descriptions are the most important things we can get. It was a perfect example of what a good witness is."
