Suspected Morley bank robbers implicated in Essex branch theft

MORLEY, Mo. -- Two of the three individuals arrested May 20 for the robbery of the Morley branch of First Commercial Bank also are charged with the St. Patrick's Day robbery of First Commercials' Essex, Missouri, branch, according to a warrant affidavit released Friday.

While police were questioning one of the suspects, he admitted to having taken part in the March 17 robbery of the Essex branch, the affidavit said. Tyrice Royston, 36, of the St. Louis area, told police that Pamela Lathon, 46, also of St. Louis, also participated in the Essex robbery as the driver of the getaway vehicle used in the crime, according to the affidavit.

Royston did not offer information leading to the second male suspect on video surveillance footage from March 17. Police say the third person in the Essex robbery was not Alexander T. Trotter, 31, who is the third person charged in the Morley robbery along with Royston and Trotter.

According to the warrant affidavit, Royston and the unnamed male who accompanied him to Essex on March 17, used "zip ties" to bind the hands and feet of two tellers at the Essex bank. One of the employees also sustained a fractured vertebrae from having been knocked from her chair to the floor by one of the suspects. They took an undisclosed amount of cash from the tellers' stations and fled in what was only described as a dark sedan.

At Morley on May 20, witnesses saw a female driver, allegedly Lathon, in a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta, leaving the scene with who police now believe were Royston and Trotter.

Officers located the vehicle traveling on Highway 91, just west of Bell City in Stoddard County. A search of the suspect's vehicle netted articles related to the Morley bank robbery, including cash.

Royston, Lathon and Trotter remain in custody at the Scott County Sheriff's Office.

Pertinent address:

Morley, Mo.