After 11 Hours, Bank Realizes It Was Robbed
WASHINGTON -- It took hours for officials at a downtown Washington bank to realize they'd been robbed.

Police said a man impersonating an armored car guard walked out of a Wachovia bank branch on Pennsylvania Avenue Thursday with more than $100,000, after officials let him sign for a locked bag of cash.

About an hour after the robbery, a real Brinks guard arrived at the bank and was told that another guard had completed the day's cash pickup.

Police said the Brinks driver waited until he returned to his office to tell his supervisors about the failed pickup. Brinks officials contacted the bank, and a branch manager called D.C. police about 8 p.m. -- almost 11 hours after the theft.

Lt. William Farr, the head of the D.C. police bank robbery unit, told the Washington Post that investigators are playing catchup.

"We're now behind. We're trying to catch up with everybody, all the employees," Farr told the newspaper. "If we can get good pictures from the surveillance cameras . . . I think we'll get him."

Authorities don't have a detailed description of the robber and don't know whether he left the bank in a vehicle or on foot.

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