Photos for Headline Surfer® / Accused bank robber Michael N. London, 63, is shown in a police mugshot on Friday, a far cry from the Santa Claus get-up shown at far left in a surveillance video still from Monday's armed robbery of the Port Orange Sun Trust branch on Nova Road.
PORT ORANGE -- If you thought the man dressed in the Santa outfit who held up the Sun Trust Bank two days before Christmas was having a bad hair day, imagine what an eye opener he was to Port Orange cops who nabbed him outside his residence earlier today, sans the holiday get-up.
Meet Michael N. London, 63, arrested by Port Orange cops on a number of armed robbery-related felony charges in connection with Monday's mid-afternoon hold-up of the packed Port Orange Sun Trust Bank, 3865 Nova Road.
"The investigation developed leads to include evidence recovered at the scene," Port Orange Police Capt. Wayne Miller told Headline Surfer®. "Based on this evidence, today, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Port Orange police detectives arrested Michael N. London of Port Orange."
"The investigation developed leads to include evidence recovered at the scene," Port Orange Police Capt. Wayne Miller told Headline Surfer®. "Based on this evidence, today, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Port Orange police detectives arrested Michael N. London of Port Orange."
London was handcuffed outside his residence without incident and charged with possession of a hoax bomb, armed robbery, grand theft and false imprisonment. After processing at the Port Orange PD, London was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach where he was being held on $40,000 bond.
No information was released as to whether the undisclosed loot or the Santa props used to conceal his face were recovered, with Miller only saying, "The investigation remains active and ongoing."
London could be looking at a sentence of up to life in prison if adjudicated guilty in a court of law of the four felony charges he's now facing, with the armed bank robbery count the primary charge. He's presumed innocent up to and unless convicted.
London wasn't very bright in leaving a package on the counter in front of the teller, intimating to her in a note that it was a destructive device without actually using the word "explosive," according to the initial police report of the 3:13 p.m. robbery.
And what a surprise it must have been to bank employees and customers alike, seeing Santa walk in only to reveal his true identity as bank robber, his face concealed by an over-sized red and white stocking hat that hung down his forehead, an over-sized white wig, large fake white beard and what appeared to be pasted-on large white eyebrows. He also wore dark sunglasses.
Suspected bank robber Michael N. London, 63, of Port Orange, looks more like a disheveled Chef Boyardee than the Santa he was dressed as in allegedly holding up the Sun Trust on Nova Road two days before Christmas.
Without the Santa get-up, the accused robber with scraggly hair and a thick grey mustache, resembles Chef Boyardee on a bender in his mug shot photo taken at the police station as he was being processed for transport to the county jail.
And as funny or sad as that description may be, there was nothing amusing about cops having to evacuate the bank of customers and employees on a busy Christmas shopping afternoon to dispose of the package, which turned out not to have explosives.
The accused robber was described as white and 6 feet tall with a medium build, very nondescript with the Santa gear dominant-- that is until the Old St. Nick props aren't in place.