Second arrested in abduction, bank robbery plot

CLINTON, Md. - A second arrest has been made in a trio of suspects who followed home a female manager of a Silver Spring bank, held her family hostage in their Clinton home and attempted to force the woman to rob the bank.

Yosef Tadele, 23, was arrested at the State Police Park Barracks shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday. He is believed to be the driver in the plot, which also involved 24 year-old Yohannes Surafel, who was arrested Saturday. The third suspect is unknown.

The incident began around 7:30 p.m. Friday, when the bank manager pulled into her driveway after work and was held up by the suspects. They ordered her into the house, tied her up and her husband with an electrical cord and remained with them for 12 hours.

One suspect remained at the family's home in Clinton Saturday morning while Surafel forced the family, including two children, into a car. The suspect then told Spruill to drive to the SunTrust Bank in Silver Spring while holding a gun to the ribs of Spruill's 11-year-old son in the back seat.

Around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Maryland State Police Trooper Barrington Cameron stopped the car on the Capital Beltway for erratic driving, at which point Spruill took action against Surafel.

"I hopped from the front to the back and I held him down and said, 'He got a gun, he got a gun, he got a gun!'" Spruill says.

The officer then drew his gun, arrested Surafel and rescued the family from the car.

Prince George's County Police immediately established a barricade at the family's home on Briarcliff Drive. Police say the third suspect had already escaped from the home, picked up by Tadele soon after Surafel left with the family at gunpoint.

The third suspect is being described as a black male in his 20s, approximately 5-foot-7, 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing dark pants and a black hooded sweatshirt.

Surafel was admitted to Prince George's Hospital Saturday night after attempting to hang himself in his prison cell. He has since been released and is being held by Prince George's County Police.

Surafel is being charged with four counts of first degree assault, four counts of second degree assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of kidnapping a child under 15, four counts of false imprisonment, four counts of reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony.

A similar event occurred in September, when a PNC bank manager and her two young children were kidnapped from their Lusby home and forced to take $169,000 from the bank where she worked. Four people have been indicted in that case.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP Radio. All rights reserved.)