Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Pensacola man within a half hour of him robbing the Member’s First Credit Union on Airport Blvd. Twenty-seven-year-old Darrel Ward (pictured below) was arrested at Sam’s Fun City after an off-duty deputy saw Ward jumping the back fence of the amusement park.
Deputies say that Ward walked into the credit union and passed a note to the clerk demanding money. Ward alluded to the clerk that he had a weapon. After the teller gave Ward an undisclosed amount of money, Ward fled in a cab. The driver of the cab said he dropped Ward off in the 700 block of Ladner Dr. in the Marcus Pointe subdivision. Deputies quickly set up a perimeter.
With the help of the Sheriff’s Office Air Unit, witnesses and off-duty deputy Troy Brown, deputies were able to locate and arrest Ward inside Sam’s Fun City without incident. Sheriff’s K-9 units were able to locate the bag that Ward put the money in behind Sam’s Fun City and the Rave Theater. The money was recovered with the bag.