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Bank Robbery Suspect Ruled Incompetent, Could Still Face Trial
July 14, 2010
A federal judge has ruled that an Atmore bank robbery suspect that burned part of his getaway vehicle in North Escambia and tried to kill a Florida police officer is not competent to stand trial — at least for now.
Chad Floyd Jeter, now 31, was indicted on charges of bank robbery with a weapon and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime in violence in connection with the May 19, 2009, armed robbery of the First National Bank & Trust in downtown Atmore.
The “defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense,” U.S. District Judge William H. Steele wrote in his order.
Steele ordered Jeter to remain hospitalized in federal custody for up to four months to determine if he might be able to stand trial in foreseeable future.
Jeter allegedly robbed the Atmore bank using a .22 caliber rifle, taking about $6,289. If Jeter were to be convicted on the federal charges, he could face penalties up to life in prison and fines of a half million dollars.
Authorities in Levy County, Florida, dropped an attempted murder of police officer charge against Jeter after a psychological evaluation there found him to be incompetent to stand trail. Jeter was captured in Levy County after a manhunt that followed his escape from a police officer that he struck with a “ninja throwing star”.
Jeter reportedly drove up to the downtown Atmore bank in a white pickup with a camper shell, entered the bank dressed in a dark colored trench coat and the rifle. He ordered bank employees to fill a U.S. Army backpack with cash, while he stood with the rifle pointed at the floor. He reportedly threatened a teller with the rifle during the crime.
Within a few hours of the robbery, investigators identified Jeter as their suspect. Officials searched his trailer on Highway 31 near Canoe. Inside, they found troubling evidence that Jeter might be planning to attack a military base. He said in letters and notes that he was being watched by helicopters that circle his home. Police found maps with the locations of several military bases circled, including Pensacola NAS, Eglin Air Force Base, Whiting Field and Alabama’s Ft. Rucker. The notes indicated that he planned to kill military personnel and police. Military bases were alerted to the possible threat.
Jeter’s burned out camper shell was found in the woods after the McDavid Station of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to a brush fire on a secluded section of Pine Barren Road near Breastworks Road early on the morning after the robbery.
While on routine patrol at 4:15 Eastern time the Thursday morning following the Tuesday robbery, an Inglis (Fla.) Police Department officer, Tim Swigget, located a blue GMC pickup trucked parked backed into a wooded area near a Yankeetown, Florida, neighborhood. Inside the vehicle that is nearly 400 miles from Atmore, he found Jeter sleeping. After the officer determines that Jeter is wanted for the bank robbery, Jeter attacked the officer with a Ninja star.
A manhunt involving several agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard followed after Jeter fled the scene. Jeter was taken into custody in a swampy area and transported to the Levy County Jail.
Pictured top: Chad Floyd Jeter’s booking photo taken mid-January at the Baldwin County Corrections Center. Pictured middle inset: Jeter’s truck at the First National Bank & Trust in Atmore. Pictured lower inset: Surveillance video of the bank robbery in progress. Pictured bottom: Jeter after being taken into custody last year in Levy County, Florida. NorthEscambia.com files photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
26 Responses to “Bank Robbery Suspect Ruled Incompetent, Could Still Face Trial”
Listen here “SaddleUpNRide”, I am not crazy or insane and I don’t appreciate you insinuating that I am. If anyone thats commenting on here is crazy, then it is you for defending a criminal. You and Chad are the ones who are heartless. Can you imagine the fear that those tellers were feeling when he came in with that gun?? What if someone put a gun to your head??? Would you want them to go free just because they claim to be incompetent!!!! I’m going to guess that your answer would be no!!! I think you need to do some serious soul searching!!!!!!!
I am not insane nor am I angry. I dont need to be behind bars either. I am just speaking the TRUTH about what happened when he robbed my bank. He seems to be the one that MAY be insane, and he does need to be behind bars. The problem with criminals these days are they get off to easy and end up doing the crimes all over again. He knew what he was doing that day… By the way… He is the one that was HEARTLESS that day… Not Us !!!!!
REGARDING:
“Anger is a form of insanity. Guess you are all crazy.”
I’m not angry but can imagine being angry if someone pointed a gun at me to steal from me. Please explain why or how that anger would be insane.
David the crazy, it seems
Talk about heartless people…
Chad should and will pay the crimes against him. No matter what state of mind he is in at this time, if and when they determine he can stand trial then he will.
You should all read your own notes… some of your comments make it sound as though you should be put behind bars as well.
Anger is a form of insanity. Guess you are all crazy.
well….ya know what they say about opinions…they r just like something else….everyone has one!!!!! chad really is a good guy! he just has problems that he cant handle on his own! instead of judging him we should all just be prayin for him! im prayin for him and his family!!!!! im thankful that no one was hurt including chad!!!!!
I am also a Bank Teller and he DID know what he was doing. He was smart enough to carry a gun into the bank, take money from the bank, go hide and burn part of his truck, not to mention … buy drugs with the money he stole from the bank, then travel miles away to run away from the law. He may need meds, but he should be punished to the full extent of the law. He did just fine in society before all this happened. It’s his fault he didnt take his meds. Like I said, He was smart enough to go buy drugs with the $$$, Why couldnt he take his other meds? Stop trying to defend a criminal people !!! That is what is wrong with the world today. People say their crazy, then get out of jail and get in trouble again and again. Lock him up then give him meds while is is in prison where he needs to be…
REGARDING:
“Actually sounds pretty smart for his own good.”
You can be smart and nuts–just look at me.
Look at it this way: His mind’s messed up and he’s dangerous. The only way to get medical treatment is within the criminal justice system–I doubt it’ll help him but at least he won’t be shooting anybody or robbing any more banks for a while. Let’s find him a PALACE in which to stay and keep him away from guns and tellers.
This is BULL!!!!! He knew what he was doing!!! Why else would he have driven his vehicle in an area and burned the camper shell and spray painted his truck. Actually sounds pretty smart for his own good. I hope they keep him where he can’t hurt anyone else!!!
REGARDING:
“The issue at stake is our own long-range goals for our society.”
Well said
Teresa’s input helps us understand. If it is paranoid schizophrenia, it’s an organic disease. In other words it’s something he was born with and cannot help. Non-organic types of mental illness are treatable with therapy and some medication, but given that it’s organic, only medication can help – along with education about his own “defective” condition. People become homeless because of schizophrenia, especially when they don’t take their medication regularly. It’s tough.
This “get tough with criminals” attitude gets us nowhere. They all eventually get out of prison. Best (and Christian) to break down their problems into manageable and understandable pieces and try to help…not to say that they don’t owe us something back for their terrorizing and disrespect. The issue at stake is our own long-range goals for our society.
Please, keep him in a facility to care for him until he is competent. Then try him for his crimes. Don’t let him go free or next time he has the urge to do something wrong someone may be killed. Citizens have the right to protection, even from those who are not responsible for their actions.
I am by no means condoning what he did….He did wrong and he has to pay for that….I just trying to express that people like him don’t think like mentally stable people do……I think he serve time for his actions but I also feel like he needs mental help and medications. I think (and this just my opinion, like everyone elses) that if a woman or man who is being physically or sexually abused and they kill that person,and then they claimed temporary insanity because they snapped. Would you give that person a life sentence or the death sentence……I AM JUST SAYING…
It’s hard for me to look at the last picture of him with the dirt all over his face and not see a pitiful, lost little boy. Just totally blank. Nothing there.
Anyone committing a crime is insane but they know right from wrong.
REGARDING:
“They were just jealous that the helicopters were circling his house and not theirs.”
I saw a shirt a few years back with the words:
YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE THE VOICES TALK TO ME.
The girl wearing it wasn’t violent and had a good sense of humor as do you.
David for a safe, sane world
so you figure all judges are cursed?
Thanks for the background on his childhood. Would it be judgmental of us to suspect he is nuts? If you judge someone to be innocent because he is nuts, would we still be guilty of judging?
David glad he’s no longer walking around armed
For all of you people that are defending him, you should be ashamed of yourselves!!! What if it was you that he pointed that gun at, or one of your family members that it happened to!!! You wouldn’t be so quick to defend him then!!!! I’m a teller myself and having to go through that is awful!!! I don’t care how incompetent he is…he committed a crime and he should have to pay the consequences!!! He knew good and well what he was doing!!! Even a five year old could tell you that it was wrong!!! Goodness people!! He may have been a good guy at one time, but when he robbed that bank he turned into a criminal and he should be treated like one. If they let him off then he will just do it again, until one day he kills someone.
For those of you that dont know him….he is mentally defective….I have known since he was a child….and he has always been paranoid…
As a child he really did not play with other children because he was always paranoid that people were out to get him and hurt them….Unfortunately it has manifested into adult hood at a grander scale….What this boy needs is instution and medication to help sustain him…..BE NOT THAT JUDGES UNTIL ONE IS JUDGED HIMSELF !
From a few things mentioned (ninja star, surveillance helicopters) He seems to be paranoid at a psychotic level. If so, it’s not unusual for such a person to behave “competently” within the framework of his delusions of grandeur and persecution. Such people can be very dangerous just BECAUSE they can act rationally and function effectively, but often towards bizarre goals. Paranoid thinking makes a person especially dangerous – meth amphetamine can cause that state of mind after awhile.
nicely put Concerned Citizen.
> please don’t be judgemental and think he’s just another crack head or crazy person
We would never think he’s crazy. Just because a Florida judge ruled him incompetent and that mean old federal judge listened to those federal shrinks in white coats and called him imcompetent.
They were just jealous that the helicopters were circling his house and not theirs. And he had that Ninja star. I bet it said “Official Ninja Star” on it.
Nope. He’s not crazy.
Give me a break. I’m sick and tired of this “those of you who don’t know him, don’t be judgemental” stuff. The dude is a CRIMINAL. That’s a PROVEN fact, plain and simple. He threatened people with a firearm. He’s insane? All the more reason to lock him up…less of a chance that he’ll be a danger to himself or anyone else. I’ll pray for him, but I’ll also pray that justice is served in this case.
He would have been competent if those helicopters hadn’t kept following him and spraying him with mind control drugs. What do you expect to happen to the poor fellow with all that stuff going on?
Chad was always a good boy, he’d come over now and again and we’d talk and laugh. We mostly talked about horses. My heart aches for his dad and mom, they must be devastated. You that don’t know him, please don’t be judgemental and think he’s just another crack head or crazy person. We may never know what caused Chad to take such actions. Please just pray for him and his family.
Thank you
Sure he’s crazy—-LIKE A FOX. Wish the judge would let him live with him for the next four months so he could be in a home setting and not locked up in an old jail cell.
Does’t sound too incompetent to me, he pulled off alot to be incompetent sounds like more of an excuse, certainly glad he didn’t shoot anyone. Give it a little time he will be back on the street doing it again thats just my opinion…..