A Benson man who allegedly walked into a local bank earlier this week and demanded money is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next month on state charges of robbery and attempted robbery.
Mark G. Clifton was arrested June 14 shortly after a man matching his description left the National Bank of Arizona with $537. He was located at a city park after investigators from Benson PD and the FBI utilized surveillance video from nearby businesses to track the robber’s movements.
Clifton, 57, appears to have recently moved to the Benson area from Illinois. He remains in the Cochise County jail in lieu of $25,000 bail pending a July 1 preliminary hearing in the Benson Justice Court.
Court records reveal a man entered the bank just before Noon wearing a medical-type face mask. He allegedly demanded a teller give him $20 and $100 bills. Bank video shows the man, later identified as Clifton by his clothing and other evidence, temporarily grabbed some bills but put those down when the teller took other bills out of her cash drawer.
According to the court records, investigators reviewed other video footage which showed Clifton leave the bank and enter a Safeway store one block away. He purchased some items in the store, including canned ravioli and Sprite.
After leaving the store he walked a few more blocks, at one point passing the Benson Justice Court. Clifton then walks out of sight of cameras, so detectives began to search the nearby area which consists of several commercial buildings and a city park.
According to a probable cause statement filed by Benson Det. Molly Ingram, a man fitting the bank robber’s physical and clothing description was spotted at the park by Benson Det. Braulio Hammons. Several $20 bills were found in Clifton’s pockets when he was taken into custody.
Clifton later consented to Hammons conducting a search of a locked backpack, but the detective stopped the search upon observing a Safeway bag with a can of ravioli. A more detailed search was conducted once a search warrant was obtained.
Court records also show Clifton answered a few general questions after being read his Miranda Warning but then asked for an attorney.
The investigation of the National Bank robbery led detectives to the Washington Federal Bank in Benson, where employees reported seeing a man fitting Clifton’s the week before.
Ingram’s probable cause statement notes a male subject entered Washington Federal on June 11 “and said he needed money and asked for specific dollar amount bills. This is the same manner in which he had robbed the National Bank of Arizona.”
The probable cause statement further notes that when a teller asked the man if he had an account with the bank he replied “no.” “She told him she wouldn’t be able to help him. With attention being put on him, he then left the bank,” Ingram noted.
Clifton’s case is being prosecuted by Michael Powell of the Cochise County Attorney’s Office. A court-appointed attorney has not yet been named for Clifton.