PEARLAND, TX — Two Florida men were arrested after Pearland police say they traced suspicious ATM withdrawals to a pickup truck and then watched the driver throw thousands of dollars in cash from the vehicle during a police pursuit.
The case began when officers were called to a bank about 6 p.m. Sept. 16 after a masked man was reported using several cards to make multiple ATM transactions and withdraw large amounts of money. Police said the man then got into the passenger seat of a white GMC Sierra that left the area.
No one was hurt, and investigators later recovered more than $6,000 from the road after the chase ended.
Pearland police say bank customers reported masked ATM withdrawals
According to the Pearland Police Department, officers responded to the bank after someone reported a masked man making repeated ATM withdrawals with several cards. The activity drew attention because of the number of transactions and the amount of cash involved.
Police said the man left the bank area in a white GMC Sierra as the passenger. That vehicle became the focus of the investigation as officers tried to determine where the money was coming from and whether the transactions were fraudulent.
The department has not said which bank was involved or how many cards were used, but investigators described the transactions as suspicious enough to prompt a rapid response.
Drone system helped officers locate the pickup in a parking lot
Police said officers later found the GMC Sierra in a business parking lot using the department’s drone response system. The technology helped them spot the truck after it had already left the bank area, giving officers a way to track the vehicle without losing sight of the investigation.
When officers approached, the passenger got out and began walking away. An officer detained him, while the driver remained in the truck and then fled when officers tried to stop the vehicle.
That split-second move set up the pursuit that followed and shifted the case from suspicious financial activity into a more immediate public-safety incident.
Driver allegedly threw cash from the truck during the chase
During the pursuit, police said the driver threw large amounts of cash from the vehicle. Officers later recovered more than $6,000 that had been tossed from the truck, money that investigators believe is tied to the earlier ATM activity.
The driver was arrested after what police described as a high-risk traffic stop. Officials said there were no injuries during the chase or the arrest.
Authorities have not said how much additional cash may have been missing, but the money recovered became one of the key pieces of evidence in the case.
Two Florida men face separate charges after the stop
Police identified the passenger as Tarvares Givens of West Park, Florida. He was charged with failure to identify.
The driver was identified as Levon Steven Jr. of Hollywood, Florida. He was charged with evading arrest and tampering with evidence.
Both men were taken into custody after the incident in Pearland, and the arrests added another layer to a case that began with bank activity and ended with a chase and recovered cash.
Detectives are still considering possible fraud counts
Pearland detectives are continuing to investigate and said additional fraud charges are possible. That means the current charges may not be the last ones filed as investigators review the ATM transactions and the cash recovered from the truck.
For now, police have tied the case to suspected misuse of multiple cards, a masked suspect, and a vehicle used to leave the scene. The department has not said whether the cards belonged to the men arrested or to someone else.
The investigation remains open as detectives try to determine the full scope of the activity that started at the bank and ended with two arrests.
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