CHARLOTTE, NC - Gretchen C.F. Shappert, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced today the arrest of David Ray Thomas on Thursday, June 7, 2007 by Special Agents of the FBI on a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, June 5. Thomas, of Randleman, North Carolina, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint which alleges that on or about April 25, 2007 in Mecklenburg County, in the Western District of North Carolina, the defendant by force and violence took from the person of another,over $1000 in cash belonging to SunTrust Bank at 8121 Mallard Creek Road, Charlotte, North Carolina. The criminal complaint further alleges that Thomas, while committing the alleged offense, assaulted another by the use of a dangerous weapon.

David Ray Thomas was arrested on Thursday, June 7, 2007 at 3:30 p.m in Randolph County, North Carolina, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, and the Liberty, North Carolina, Police Department.

Defendant Thomas made his initial appearance before a United States Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of North Carolina today (Friday, June 8, 2007) and has been ordered detained in federal custody following his arrest and initial appearance on the federal criminal complaint. Thomas will be afforded a detention hearing, the date for which is not currently available.

The federal investigation, led by FBI, with substantial assistance from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and the Randleman Police Department, is ongoing. Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a defendant arrested on federal criminal complaint is entitled to a probable cause hearing within ten (10) days of his/her arrest, unless indicted or unless a criminal information against the defendant is filed in U.S. District Court before the passage of ten days.

DEFENDANTS ARE ENTITLED TO A PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE UNDER THE LAW, AND THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE BURDEN OF PROVING EVERY ELEMENT OF THE CHARGES BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.

Neither the United States Attorney’s Office nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation will have further comment at this time.