PORTAGE, Mich. -- A man from Indiana is behind bars in west Michigan after police said that he robbed several banks over the past couple of weeks.
FOX 17 has uncovered that the suspect isn't an amateur either, and has already spent more than 15 years in federal prison for a string of bank robberies in the 1990s.
Brian Standiford, 49, was first sentenced for robbing banks in 1993.
Standiford has been in and out of jail ever since, and his family has been saying this entire time that it's Staniford's drug habit that drives his motivation for the crimes.
It was just after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday when an officer spotted the white sedan described by witnesses to be the getaway car for the suspect who had just robbed an Old National Bank branch near Crossroads Mall moments before.
In the dash cam video you can see several patrol cars started to pursue Standiford.
After damaging a Portage police car, Standiford continued along I-94 for almost 20 minutes, until finally hitting a spike strip and being pinned by a police cruiser.
An air gun was recovered from the side of the freeway, after witnesses said Standiford threw it out of his car during the pursuit.
"Everybody knew, hey there was a bank robbery in the county. There was a bank robbery out in South Haven and we had descriptions and a little luck doesn't hurt," said Nicholas Armold with the Portage Police Department.
An Indiana newspaper said that during his string of bank robberies in the '90s, he was dubbed the Big Bandit, and his family is quoted to saying he's a drug addict who robs banks to fund his habit.
A bag of an unidentified white powdery substance was found in the vehicle following the arrest.
"He has a prior in a federal penitentiary for the same crime. This is probably going to do him in," said Armold.
Armold also said that Standiford had a reason to target Michigan, despite living in Indiana.
"Agencies around where he was living were aware of him, so he was driving away from his home in Indiana," said Armold.
Armold also said that Standiford is expected to be handed over to federal authorities, who will prosecute him for the recent robberies.
We've also reviewed pictures showing Standiford with what's believed to be self inflicted knife wounds on his neck and wrist.
