AUSTIN, Texas — Austin police have arrested the man believed to be responsible for at least five Austin bank robberies that have occurred in the area since December.
The man, Thomas Mixon, 59, is a former Navy SEAL.
Mixon was booked on Feb. 26 and remains in the Travis County Jail on five charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
Spectrum News (News 8 at the time) previously profiled Mixon back in 2007. He spent eight years as a Navy SEAL, and at that time, he instructed a Navy Seal Conditioning Course.
The August 2007 issue of Austin Fit Magazine included Mixon in its "Ten of Austin's Fittest" list.
Screen grab from Austin Fit magazine feat. Mixon.
Bank Robbery No. 1
The first bank robbery happened on Dec. 22, 2017 at the IBC Bank on Ranch to Market 2222 in west Austin where Mixon is accused of robbing the bank while holding employees at gunpoint. He fled in what police described as a dark gray pickup truck.
Bank Robbery No. 2
The same IBC Bank was robbed again on Jan. 5. He fled on foot. Even at that time, police believed it was the same suspect who committed the robbery in December.
Bank Robberies No. 3 and 4
The third and fourth robberies happened at the Prosperity Bank on Northland Drive, west of MoPac Expressway, on Feb. 1 and 7. Same description, and again, fled on foot heading sounthbound on Balcones Drive.
Bank Robbery No. 5
Authorities say his last bank robbery was on Feb. 26 at the Plains Capital Bank on North MoPac near Parmer Lane. Police at that time said the man entered the bank and demanded cash before fleeing on foot.
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According to arrest affidavits, Austin police found the Mixon’s vehicle (previously decribed by multiple witnesses, one who was able to provide the license plate number) at a home in northwest Austin. Police stopped him while he was walking toward the truck, which contained a black leather satchel consister with the same bag description supplied by witnesses in the last 4 robberies as well as clothes that matched the bank robbery suspect description's in all 5 robberies.
Located inside his home was a gun cleaning kit and 22 of the same plastic bag used by the suspect in the first bank robbery in December.
Mixon’s bond was set at $500,000 and he is scheduled to appear in court April 4.
