‘Empty the drawer’: How police caught Wichita man, 18-year-old woman on suspicion of armed bank robberies

A 20-year-old Wichita man on parole has been charged with robbing three banks in December.

An 18-year-old Wichita woman has been charged in one of those cases after admitting to being the getaway driver. Emily Wise also admitted to being in the getaway car, but not driving, during the third robbery, which happened at 4:13 p.m. Dec. 27 at Sunflower Bank in Junction City, according to court documents released Friday.

Wise has been charged with one count of bank robbery; Zane Dresden Tilcock has been charged with three.

Court records detail how police linked the two suspects to the robberies by seeing one of them during the second robbery via a doorbell camera in the area. The suspect was getting into a dark car. That video was then used with Flock Safety cameras in the area and alerted police to a Volkswagen Jetta with a temporary tag registered to Amanda and Emily Wise.

Having one suspect, police began to investigate. Tilcock was seen with Wise. He used money that had the same serial numbers as money stolen from the Sunflower Bank to register a vehicle. Those serial numbers were from bait bills, which banks give to robbers in order to track and alert if that money is used elsewhere.

Here are some of the other details the court documents detail:

Intrust Bank robbery at 1544 S. Webb in Wichita

A man entered the bank around 5:57 p.m. Dec. 11 with a black gaiter pulled over his face. He had a handgun and pulled back the slide as he approached the counter. He pointed the gun at a teller and said, “Empty the drawer,” then pointed the gun at another teller and demanded money.

They both gave him money before he ran north from the bank. He got away with $3,414.

Emprise Bank at 11111 E. Harry St., Wichita

Around 10:28 a.m. Dec. 16, a man with a black gaiter covering his face entered the bank, pulled back the slide on his gun and told a teller, “Give me your cash.”

He then told two other tellers in the drive-thru to give him money. He grabbed all the money and ran off.

Officers checked the area and found a home on Osie with a doorbell camera, which showed the suspect running west, then getting into the rear passenger side of a dark-colored vehicle that drove off toward Greenwich.

The robber had stolen $13,500.

That video led police to Wise, who was then seen with Tilcock.

Police learned Tilcock was on parole. Tilcock has a couple of 2019 juvenile convictions in Riley County, one of them being criminal possession of a firearm by a felon or drug offender, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. He also has three convictions in March 2024 in Reno County; two of those are for attempted battery on a juvenile corrections officer and the other is for obstruction, KDOC records show.

Tilcock’s parole officer reported seeing him on Dec. 9. He had stints in prison in 2024 before being released in October and put on parole in Harvey County, KDOC records show.

He has multiple, ongoing felony cases for incidents in 2023 in Harvey and Reno counties, court records show.

Sunflower Bank at 510 N. Jefferson in Junction City

A man entered the bank at 4:13 p.m., showed a gun and demanded cash. He had a black gaiter pulled over his face. He pointed the gun at the teller and customers.

The suspect “ordered customers to one side of the bank, then ordered the tellers to empty the drawers onto the counter, specifically big bills,” the court document says. “Once the tellers emptied the drawers and put the money on the table, the subject ordered them to the front of the counter at which point he went to the counter and collected the money.”

The suspect than ran “until he was out of view of the singular exterior camera at Sunflower Bank.”

The court record doesn’t say how much was taken from Sunflower Bank.

A Wichita officer saw Tilcock at a Scheels in Wichita, making purchases with a “large wad” of money, court records say.

He left the store and got into a Volkswagen Jetta with temporary plates registered to Wise with an address at an apartment in Wichita.

Video from the apartment shows Wise and Tilcock leave the apartment complex at 9:45 a.m. on Dec. 16 and return at 10:47 a.m. The Emprise Bank in Wichita was robbed at 10:28 a.m. that day.

On Jan. 2, Tilcock registered a 2001 GMC Sierra and paid for the registration with cash. Included in that money were three $10 bills with “serial numbers (that) match the list of bait bills provided … the Unknown Male Subject at the Sunflower Bank.”

Wise and Tilcock were arrested that day.

This story was originally published January 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM.