This image of the robber was captured by a bank video surveillance camera. A Charlotte, N.C., man accused of robbing the SunTrust Bank on Wednesday was brought back to Cherokee County on Thursday after he waived extradition from North Carolina.

During a Thursday afternoon bond hearing at the Cherokee County Detention Center, bond for Howard Burton Means, 23,

Oak Street, Charlotte, N.C., was set at $25,000.

Means is accused by the Gaffney Police Department of entering a bank with intent to steal in connection with an incident that began at 9:29 a.m. Wednesday when he allegedly walked into the SunTrust Bank on West Floyd Baker Boulevard and handed a note to a teller.

“You have 20 seconds to give me $3,000 dollars in an envelope,” the note allegedly advised.

Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner said the teller acted cooly and calmly.

“The teller did what she was supposed to do to get him out of the bank,” the chief said.

Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner (foreground) works his cell phone as Gaffney Police and other law enforcement authorities respond in full force to a bank robbery at the SunTrust Bank on West Floyd Baker Boulevard on Wednesday morning. A man walked into the bank, presented an allegedly threatening letter to a teller, and fled with an undisclosed amount of money. The suspect was arrested on Interstate 85 in Cleveland County, N.C. The robber then fled with an undisclosed sum of money to a gold Jeep Cherokee that was parked at the Town & Country Apartments, across Ellis Ferry Avenue from the bank, and drove towards Interstate 85.

Means was taken into custody about 20 minutes later and charged in connection with the incident.

Gaffney Police Det. Brian Blanton credited SunTrust Bank employees for their powers of observation.

“As soon as our officers got there, they (the bank employees) were able to describe him (the robber) to a T,” Blanton said.

Not only did police have a head-to-toe description of what the robber was wearing, Blanton said, one bank employee who happened to be driving into the bank parking lot as the robber made a getaway was able to accurately describe the vehicle the robber was driving.

Gaffney Police Officer Michael Scruggs, the first to arrive on scene, was able to use the witness descriptions to immediately put out an alert on the radio to all local police departments.

At 9:51 a.m., Cleveland County, N.C., Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Rodney Fitch, who had heard the radio broadcast about the Gaffney robbery, spotted a vehicle on Interstate 85 just a few miles over the border matching the description of the one broadcast. When Fitch ran the license plate, Blanton said, it reportedly came back to a different vehicle and Fitch made a traffic stop near Mile Marker 8.

Police said Means confessed to the robbery and was taken into custody without incident. Money from the bank was recovered from the vehicle, police said, along with a hat that was worn during the robbery.

Gaffney Police Det. Lt. Ron Ramsey and Blanton immediately went to North Carolina following Means’ apprehension in Cleveland County.

While Chief Turner declined comment on the amount of money stolen from the bank, the Shelby Star in Shelby, N.C., reported that Cleveland County deputies found $2,000 in Means’ vehicle.

Chief Turner said no one was hurt during the robbery, though employees were upset.

“When anything like this happens, it will shake you up,” Turner said. “Rightly so.”

The incident in Gaffney was one of two involving a SunTrust Bank branch that occurred Wednesday. Spartanburg Public Safety is investigating a robbery that occurred at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at a SunTrust branch on East Main Street in Spartanburg. During that incident, a woman entered the bank and handed a note to a teller demanding money. No arrest has been reported in that case as of Thursday afternoon.

Gaffney Police confirmed they are looking to see if the Spartanburg bank robbery was connected in any way to the incident in Gaffney.