163723059

___________________COMING TO DVD 4/3/07__________________ ________________________________________________________ Click on the banner above for info: ___________________________________________________________ ____________ BARBIE BANDIT IN COURT 3/29/07HAIR STYLIST INTERVIEW___________________________________________________ __________________ BARBIE BANDITS VISIT BEAUTY SALON ____________________________________________________________ ___________ MOM SAYS BARBIE BANDIT SORRY __________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________ CNN NEWS BARBIE BANDITS Captured: ____________________________________________________________ _________BARBIE BANDITS 1st COURT APPEARANCE: TURN-UP VOLUME ___________________COMING TO DVD 4/3/07____________________ ___________________________________________________________ TURN-UP VOLUME. Fox coverage: BB's on the run. ___________________________________________________________ MARIETTA, Ga. 3/29/07 -- ..a police detective testified Thursday, as the judge lowered the bond for one suspect.Police Det. Brad McEntyre testified during a probable cause hearing for Heather Johnston.______________ Johnston, 19, and Ashley Miller, 18, the so-called Barbie Bandits, are charged with felony theft and marijuana possessions and remain in jail since the Feb. 27 heist. Miller has waived her right to the hearing. McEntyre said the pair shopped at two upscale malls, gave their waiter a big tip after eating and went to a swank hair salon after the theft. He said Johnston had $1,000 in her bra when apprehended."The whole thing started out as a joke," he said. "They were laughing about robbing a bank and then things turned serious."Magistrate Court Judge Frank Cox agreed that there was probable cause to pursue the charges against Johnston. He also agreed to reduce her $26,000 bond to $10,000. After the hearing, Johnston's parents said they were unsure how they will pay her bond. They are eager to get their daughter home and will get her out of jail "as soon as we can come up with the money," her father, Edward, said. "You think you're the average, normal, everyday American family, and then something like this happens," her mother, Lisa, said. "It's just a smack in the face." Her parents said she simply got caught up with the wrong kind of people. "This is certainly not the way we raised her," Lisa Johnston said.Upon her release, Johnston will live with her parents and will be under a curfew from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day.________________________________________________________ _________________________ATLANTA, 3/8/07 -- There was shock at Shooter Alley, a nude dance club outside Atlanta, where co-workers say Ashley Miller and Heather Johnston, both 19, worked the afternoon shift."I would have never thought...ever," said a 26-year-old dancer, "Dream," who says she worked with Miller -- stage name "Adrienne" -- and Johnston -- "Charlie" -- for at least two months."Charlie was always smiling, just a sweetheart. She just said she played tennis in high school. We talked about kids, relationships, never nothing about criminal stuff.""Charlie was just innocent looking. She could make you laugh just by watching her dance. She could just look at you, stick her tongue out; it was funny, being kiddie.""Dream" said she and Johnston talked often, but she never heard the young women talk about two men who authorities say helped pull the heist off. ____________________________________________________________ _________ Atlanta, 3/6/07 -- There was a time when they seemed full of promise. Johnston, 19, was a straight-A student and a nimble tennis player, says her uncle, Jay Johnston. She received a HOPE Scholarship, awarded to Georgia students with at least a 3.0 GPA, according to her father, Edward Johnston. Miller, 18, wasn't strong academically but had a big heart and volunteered at a nursing home, says her mother, Joy Miller. But after graduating from high school last year, each fell in with a shady crowd, according to neighbors and relatives. Miller started going out with Michael Chastang, 27, known as "Skinny," who Joy Miller describes as troubled. Her daughter, she says, wanted "to take him under her wings and make him all better." Johnston, for her part, began dating a guy that her father disapproved of, according to her uncle. That may have contributed to a schism with her parents. She moved out last fall, and in December, police arrested her for trying to break in to her parents' home while they were away. "It just goes to show you how quick a kid can be swayed from on-track to dead-end," says Johnston's uncle. Both girls turned to stripping to earn cash. After meeting at Shooter Alley, they decided to move in together. About a month ago, they rented an apartment in a sketchy neighborhood in southwest Atlanta. The place had no furniture, and they slept on blankets on the floor, according to Miller's mother. Neighbors say the pair stood out as the only white girls in an all-black area. Different men were observed coming and going. Chastang devised the bank-robbery scheme, police say. According to an arrest warrant, he enlisted an "associate," Benny Allen, who worked at a Bank of America branch in a Kroger grocery store. The plan: for Miller and Johnston to hold up Allen, who would fork over the money. As the girls await their fate, their parents are praying for their redemption. Johnston "went down the wrong road" and "lost her way from the Lord," says her father. But "God puts people in our paths to bring us back to him." Joy Miller, who visited her daughter at the Cobb County jail on Sunday, says Ashley was coping as best she could and even talked about returning to school to study nursing. "She is a great kid," says Joy. "She's made a bad choice," but "everything happens for a reason." Maybe the reality of prison time will finally set her and Johnston straight.___________________________________________________ __________________ MARIETTA, Ga. 3/1/07 -- The so-called 'Barbie Bandits' are behind bars.Four people were arrested Thursday night in the robbery of a bank in a supermarket by two young women who made a splash with surveillance video showing them fashionably clad in sunglasses and smiling during the holdup.Cobb County Police spokeswoman Cassie Reece says a bank teller and two 19-year-old women were among those charged with theft and drug violations. Another man, identified as 27-year-old Michael Chastang of Fulton County, also was arrested for felony theft.Reece said all four were part of a conspiracy to take money from the bank.She said the two women, who she identifies as Ashley Miller and Heather Johnston of Fulton County, and 22-year-old bank teller Benny Herman Allen III were stopped after a brief car chase earlier Thursday by police about 20 miles from where Tuesday's robbery occurred.Douglas County Sheriff Major M.O. Harper said police from Cobb County, where the robbery took place at a Kroger's branch of a Bank of America, chased the trio into the neighboring county where deputies were called in to apprehend them. Harper said three were immediately turned over to Cobb County authorities for questioning.Images captured from the surveillance video by police show the robbers wore nothing but dark sunglasses to disguise their faces as they handed a teller a note demanding cash Tuesday afternoon.Cobb police say Miller and Chastang also were charged with trafficking in MDMA and both had outstanding warrants -- Miller for probation violation out of Clayton County and Chastang for failure to appear in Fulton County._____________________________________________________ ___________________ ACWORTH, Ga. 3/1/07 -- Cobb County police say they are questioning two girls from neighboring Douglas County in connection with a bank robbery at a Bank of America branch in Acworth.Cobb police spokesman Wayne Delk describes the pair as "persons of interest."They were taken to Cobb County police headquarters from Douglas County this afternoon.Police said tips have flooded in during the search for the two young women who wore sunglasses and were smiling as they they robbed a bank branch inside a suburban Atlanta supermarket.The two -- who police said appear to be between 16 and 24 years old -- handed a Bank of America branch teller a note demanding cash, smiled as they waited and walked out with stolen money about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at a Kroger store in Acworth.Cobb County School System spokesman Jay Dillon says he spoke with principals in the Acworth area about whether the girls could be students at their schools and the principals did not recognize them.Police say the two young women did not show a weapon. Authorities also did not say what was in their note. _______________________________________________________ _________________COMING TO DVD 4/3/07______________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ___________ COBB COUNTY, GA 2/28/07 -- Cobb County police said they believe they will soon identify and arrest the two young women, who they say, robbed a bank on Tuesday, as if they were having a good time, as one officer put it.Cobb County police have been inundated with calls and tips and leads from all over the country, from people captivated by the photos of the two young women -- possibly teenagers, police said they are not sure.Investigators flooded with calls from people claiming to know the young women who showed up at the Bank of America branch inside a Kroger supermarket near Acworth, wearing sunglasses -- one of them smiling -- who handed a teller a note, took the money and ran."The thing that's abnormal about this, is not that they are (or may be) teenagers," said Cobb County police spokesman Wayne Delk. "But because they appear to be affluent young females robbing a bank. It just kind of stands out a bit more than the average bank robbery.""Because maybe they did it for some reason other than wanting or needing money?" asked 11Alive's Jon Shirek."That's possible," Delk replied.Principals of nearby high schools, so far, do not recognize the young women. Police said that since the surveillance photos show the young women so clearly, they believe they will soon capture the women.On Wednesday morning, police arrested one of the bank employees, but not in connection with this case. It turns out the employee was wanted in Bartow County on unrelated charges. ____________________________________________________________ ___________ Ga. 2/28/07 -- They were young and stylish, turning heads in their tight jeans and designer sunglasses.Police say the two young women — teenagers, perhaps — smiled and giggled as they robbed a bank in Acworth, Georgia.The bizarre heist attracted national attention after police released photos that showed the pair standing nonchalantly before the teller. Some news outlets christened them the "Barbie Bandits".Calls poured in to police. "We have had tons of calls, ranging from 'That's my niece', 'That's my granddaughter' to 'I know this person from such and such'," said Officer Wayne Delk, a spokesman for Cobb County police.The pair, most likely aged between 16 and 24, walked into a bank inside a grocery store about 12.15pm on Tuesday. They handed a hold-up note to a teller but did not show a weapon, police said.Officer Delk said "a substantial" amount of cash was taken.The women strolled out of the bank, but police don't know whether they had a getaway car — or if they are even old enough to drive.Karen Davis, who was next in line at the bank, said she was struck by how nicely the women — one blonde, the other brunette — were dressed. "They probably spent more time dressing for the robbery than actually planning it," she said.After robbing the teller, the two left in no hurry. Ms Davis said she didn't find out that a robbery had taken place until after the women were gone.The robbery happened near Brookstone Country Club, where some two-storey brick homes sell for up to $US1 million ($A1.3 million).Sheila Rollins, a sales agent for the neighbourhood, said everyone was talking about the young bank robbers. "The girls could be anybody's neighbour," she said.At a salon near the grocery store, Dawn Benson chatted about the hold-up as she was getting her nails done. "I like their designer sunglasses," she said. "At least they're robbing in style."The case generated intense national media interest, from the major networks to national cable outlets. Reporters started calling Officer Delk before 6am and kept phoning all day.Late on Wednesday, police were still trying to determine the identities of the bank robbers."Plenty of leads are coming in. Some good, some not so good," Officer Delk said. "People are calling in from all over."Police did make one arrest but it wasn't connected to the robbery. While investigating the heist, they discovered that one of the bank employees had an outstanding warrant. Authorities would not elaborate.The FBI, as with other bank robberies in the metropolitan area, is working closely with the Cobb County police on the robbery investigation.______________________________________________ ______________________ MARIETTA 3/2/07 -— Heather Lyn Johnston and Ashley Nichole Miller two Gwinnett County Public Schools graduates were arrested Thursday night in connection with the theft of money from a bank in a supermarket in Cobb County.Miller graduated in May from Grayson High School, and Johnston graduated in May from Collins Hill High School,*Johnston had a run-in with Gwinnett County police in December after residents of the River Colony subdivision reported someone was scoping out a home on Christiana Drive. After arriving at the home police talked to Johnston, who said she entered her parent’s house through the back window because she did not have a key. She spoke several times of problems with her father, a police report states. Her father told police during a telephone conversation his daughter had not lived in the house for more than two months and she did not belong inside the home, the police report states. Police issued a warrant on a criminal trespass charge, but it is unclear if Johnston was arrested. The incident report does not list an address for Johnston, but it lists her occupation as a dancer. Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Darren Moloney said the department does not have any arrest records for Miller. The fourth suspect in the bank theft was identified as *Michael Chastang, 27. Authorities did not immediately provide his hometown. He also was charged with trafficking ecstasy, providing a false name and date of birth and had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear out of Fulton County. Douglas County Sheriff’s Maj. M.O. Harper said police from Cobb County chased Miller, Johnson and Allen into the neighboring county where deputies were called in to apprehend them. Harper said the three were immediately turned over to Cobb County authorities for questioning.The teens arrests shocked longtime family friends of the pair.Bonnie French of Grayson has been close friends with Ashley Miller's parents, and her son played baseball with Ashley's brother. Craig Miller, Ashley's father, was a YMCA baseball coach for years, and Joy Miller, a former middle school secretary, has always been an active parent, French said."The little girl was just precious," French said of Ashley Miller. "This is a child from a middle-class family, parents who cared. She's not a street kid."The Millers divorced in recent years and French has not seen Ashley lately."It sounds like she's made some bad choices," French said. "What would get into a kid's head to make them do that?"Police declined to release the contents of the robbers’ note and the amount of money stolen. Spokesman officer Wayne Delk said only it was ‘‘considerable.’’___________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ _______________________