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Bank Teller Confesses: Robbery Was 'Inside Job'

Posted: 4:49 pm EST February 18, 2008Updated: 5:42 pm EST February 18, 2008

Police in Loganville have arrested three people in the city’s first bank robbery in over 25 years. Investigators said after failing a lie detector test, a bank employee confessed to the inside job.

Three people have been arrested. Police said one person was waiting in a getaway car, another walked into the bank with money bags and the third was behind the counter inside.

On February 1, a surveillance camera caught what seemed to be a standard bank robbery. But detectives would figure out this wasn’t their average note job when 28-year-old Leon Conley got in line and didn’t want to be helped by just any teller.

“He says, ‘No, I’m waiting on her,’ specifically her,” said Sgt. Mike Westbrooks with the Loganville Police Department.

Conley was talking about 32-year-old Chantale Charles, one of the tellers. He handed her a note and a couple of money bags.

“The note instructs her not to punch any buttons, to not put the dye pack in with the money,” said Westbrooks.

Conley left with over $38,000 in cash. When investigators interviewed Charles, the teller, they said her demeanor and story raised red flags and it soon became obvious she wasn’t telling the truth.

“She underwent a polygraph and she failed that polygraph test,” said Westbrooks.

Westbrooks said it didn’t take long for Charles to break down and confess to planning the robbery with Conley and 24-year-old Travis Benson, who police said was driving the getaway car. The three were arrested, but police are now looking to see if Charles is connected to other bank robberies where she worked.

"She was originally from the Miami-Dade area, had three robberies in that area, moved to Georgia, and this would be her second robbery that she's been involved in,” said Westbrooks.

Conley and Benson are still at the Walton County Jail but Charles has bonded out. Channel 2’s Rachel Kim went by her home and left a message on her phone for comment but that call was not returned.

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