FHP arrests Tulsa robbery suspect

Published 10:35 am Saturday, October 26, 2019

WHITE SPRINGS, Fla. — A man wanted for a bank robbery in Tulsa was arrested Thursday at the County Road 136-Interstate 75 interchange in eastern Suwannee County.

The Florida Highway Patrol received a call around 3:45 p.m. Thursday from the Tulsa (Okla.) Police Department requesting assistance and that the suspect was in North Central Florida.

Troopers located the 2010 Honda Civic that the suspect — 51-year-old Derek Darity — was traveling in at the Shell gas station at the interchange on the White Springs exit and with assistance from a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services officer conducted a stop on the vehicle, according to an FHP report.

Darity, the passenger in the vehicle, was placed under arrest on the warrant for the bank robbery as well as possession of drug paraphernalia when a meth pipe was found in a search of the vehicle, the report states.

The search also uncovered $844 in cash and a flare gun loaded with a 20-gauge shotgun shell.

According to media reports from Oklahoma, Darity entered an Arvest Bank in Tulsa on Monday with a flare gun and shot it off inside the bank during the robbery.

James Gray, the 49-year-old driver of the car, allegedly told authorities they were headed to South Florida from Tulsa, according to FHP’s report.