SWAT arrests man suspected of robbing a Utah bank and sending threats to another
Feb 10, 2025, 11:43 AM | Updated: Feb 21, 2025, 8:54 am
A Unified Police Department vehicle sits in a neighborhood in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (Courtesy Ben Bennett)
(Courtesy Ben Bennett)
SALT LAKE CITY — A man is accused of robbing a bank and stealing a dollar amount to reference the 9/11 attacks.
On Thursday, Unified police and the FBI were called to a robbery that happened at a Chase Bank on 2855 E, 3300 South in Millcreek.
Witnesses told investigators that a white man with a long beard left notes and demanded $2,001. The employees provided the money, and the man fled the bank.
According to the police affidavit, the man left three envelopes labeled to “the news, the FBI, and UPD.” The man also left a typed note directing the bank teller to place the money in his bag.
Investigators obtained security footage from the bank and discovered that on Jan. 30, the man also went to another Chase Bank, 7045 S. 1300 East in Cottonwood Heights.
Police said the man delivered another envelope with a manifesto at the bank and left without robbing it.
“This manifesto has many pages, but one alarming statement that stood out was the following, ‘So assume this is an active bomb threat on both the executive management of this bank and the president of the United States. I’ve had three years to prepare it,’” the affidavit stated.
Investigators were able to identify the man as 47-year-old Robert Buckley Hardy.
According to the affidavit, detectives located Hardy on Friday at a home in Brighton and arrested him without further incident.
Armed SWAT members outside of a home in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Feb. 7, 2025. (Courtesy Ben Bennett)
After being read his Miranda rights, Hardy admitted to going to both banks to drop off the packets. He said he took $2,001 from the Millcreek bank to reference the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Hardy was booked in the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of second-degree robbery and threat of terrorism.
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