Police last night arrested a Columbia man in connection with the armed robbery yesterday of Citizens Bank and Trust in Moberly.

Bank surveillance photo

A surveillance photo shows a suspect during a holdup yesterday at Citizens Bank and Trust in Moberly.

At about 11 a.m. yesterday, Moberly police said, a man brandished a handgun and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash from the bank. Officers responding to a 911 call used K-9 units to track the suspect through a heavily wooded area but lost his trail in an alley.

Sgt. Kevin Palmatory of Moberly police described the suspect as a 45-year-old Columbia man, but he declined to release his name.

Palmatory said police arrested the suspect at about 9:45 last night in Moberly.

Acting on a tip, officers "observed a gold-colored Lincoln Town Car parked in the roadway. A vehicle matching this description had been reported as leaving the area at the time of the robbery," Palmatory said.

The suspect initially was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. But witnesses subsequently identified him in a photo lineup as the bank robbery suspect, Palmatory said.

At about 5 a.m. today, Moberly police and FBI agents searched a Columbia home in the 200 block of W. Ash Street for evidence of the crime.

The search was productive, but Palmatory declined to elaborate.

FBI agents were trying to obtain a federal warrant for the suspect, who remains in the Moberly City Jail, Palmatory said.

Anyone with information can call the Moberly Police Department at (660) 263-0346 or the Moberly/Randolph County Crime Line at (660) 269-TIPS.