On Sunday night two men stole over $116,930 from the Belize Bank ATM in Corozal.
5 hours later, remarkably swift police work resulted in three people detained
and all of the money, minus $800 recovered. And the pair allegedly at the center
of it are boyfriend and girlfriend Vilma Guzman and Alex Arana. They were today
arraigned on multiple charges in Corozal Magistrate’s Court. First, Vilma
Guzman, who is a bank teller was charged with robbery and conspiracy to commit 
robbery and offered bail of $40,000 and one surety in the same amount.
And Alex Arana, who is accused of doing the heavy lifting on this one was charged
with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and aggravated burglary and unlawful
imprisonment. There was no bail offered and he was remanded to prison until
November 25th when they both re-appear in court. The police investigation shows
that this young couple, while they had criminal aspirations, were not exactly
Bonnie and Clyde. Guzman who works at the bank went with another teller Miriam
Quan to service the ATM because it had supposedly malfunctioned.
They told police that when they got there, two men dressed in black were waiting
in Halloween masks and forced them to empty the ATM. They got off with the money
and escaped in Guzman’s car. Keen police work suggested strongly that
it was an inside job and that led them to Vilma Guzman’s boyfriend. From
there investigators started to fill in the blanks and went to an area on the
San Andres Road and found a denim knapsack buried in a shallow hole. And when
they looked inside, investigators hit pay dirt, all the stolen money, minus
$800 was bundled in the bag.
Though one other person was involved, no one else is expected to be charged
for the crime. We acknowledge our colleagues at Baymen North Limited who provided
these photos for us.
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