A man suspected of robbing a bank in Roswell before evading police was found sleeping in a woman’s home days after the crime, authorities said.
James Raborn, 27, was taken into custody in the north Fulton County city of Mountain Park on Wednesday night after evading officers for nearly three days, Roswell police said. Officers located Raborn through cellphone records, and around the same time they closed in on him a woman found the suspect sleeping inside her home.
Gwynne Ketcham told Channel 2 Action News she had been away earlier in the day when police believe Raborn broke in. She came home and went to bed — without realizing he was there.
The case began Monday afternoon when Raborn allegedly passed a note to a teller at a Truist Bank location at 8930 Holcomb Bridge Road. It demanded money and said Raborn had a gun, though he never revealed a weapon, police said.
About 10 minutes later, bank employees were able to call 911, but Raborn was already gone when officers arrived, police said.
Using surveillance camera footage and other technology, detectives said they were able to quickly link a suspect and vehicle to the crime. Thanks to their information, the car was detected on East Crossville Road on Tuesday morning.
Officers tried to pull over the car, but Raborn sped away, police said. A short chase ensued until Raborn abandoned the car in Mountain Park and ran away, leaving a woman inside. She was later identified as 29-year-old Emily Browning and arrested on multiple charges related to the robbery.
“Meanwhile, a large number of police resources flooded the Mountain Park area in a search for Raborn, including several K-9 and drone teams, as well as officers from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Cobb County Police Department, Woodstock Police Department and Georgia State Patrol,” Roswell police said.
Despite their numbers, the multi-agency force was not able to locate Raborn on Tuesday. After the search concluded, uniformed officers remained in the area as detectives continued working to locate the suspect.
More than 24 hours elapsed before law enforcement got a fresh lead when Raborn’s cellphone pinged a tower around 8 p.m. Wednesday, police said. The cellphone data indicated the phone was somewhere in the 300 block of Mountain Park Road. Detectives returned to the area and found evidence that someone had broken into an outbuilding on a different property.
While officers were in the area, Ketcham heard a noise coming from her husband’s office, she told Channel 2. She went to check on her cats in the room and found the door blocked. When she reached inside to turn on the lights, she caught a glimpse of Raborn’s legs. “Something you never expect to see in your house,” she said.
Ketcham told the news station she turned the lights back out and left the house immediately to call 911. The nearby officers quickly made contact with her and took Raborn into custody inside without further incident.
Raborn was booked into the Fulton jail on one count of armed robbery and several other charges related to fleeing from police and breaking into multiple private buildings, jail records show. He remains in jail without bond.
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