Bank robbery suspect known to police

The man police arrested in connection with a Manassas area bank robbery has a daughter who will celebrate her 12th birthday Wednesday.

Mark Wilson won’t be there. He and his girlfriend are jailed without bond, charged with robbing a Manassas area bank.

Police charged Wilson, 31, of 8805 Portner Lane near Manassas, and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Melissa Martin, of 8247 Humphrey Lane near Manassas, with attempting to rob a Dairy Queen restaurant at knifepoint Friday, and then robbing the nearby Virginia Commerce Bank on Balls Ford Road a short time later.

Wilson walked into the bank, handed the teller a note saying he had a weapon and demanded cash, police said.

Wilson and Martin made off in a stolen truck with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

They tracked the couple to a hotel just across the street from the bank they allegedly robbed and arrested them early Saturday morning.

Both face armed robbery and attempted armed robbery charges.

Wilson’s daughter was born in 1997, when he and Amy Mitchell were still together. The two never married.

Mitchell said Wilson has been in and out of trouble since then, and has never offered to pay child support.

In 2005, Wilson was convicted on one count of robbery and one count of assault, both of which happened in Manassas.

He served just over a year and a half at the Green Rock Correctional facility in Chatham and was released in December 2007, said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia prison system.

Mitchell said she called police and told them about the Manassas area convenience store he was eventually convicted of robbing three years ago, and told them about the stolen getaway truck he used in those crimes.

“Nothing is beyond him. He is a violent criminal and he needs to be put away,” said Mitchell.

She said he met Martin while they were in high school and have been together off and on ever since.

Mitchell said he would often talk about using drugs when they were together.

Wilson worked as a day laborer for Sam Justice for just three days, about two weeks ago.

It was Justices’ Ford F-250 truck police said Wilson and Martin lifted and used in the robberies.

He was relieved when police called and told him they found his pickup in the parking lot of a Chantilly bar.

“The first thing I asked them is if there was any damage? When I went and got the truck I saw there wasn’t,” Justice said.

Justice has operated a handyman business out of his home since 1999.

He said during the three days Wilson worked for him, he would talk about going to Washington to purchase drugs.

When he came back on the fourth day, Justice said he demanded and paycheck.

He left after Justice told him that he only cuts checks on Friday, he said.

When Justice reported his truck stolen early Friday morning, it had a lawnmower loaded on the back and tools still inside.

Those tools, he said, are still missing.

As recently as five months ago Mitchell said she called Wilson’s probation officer in Manassas and tipped them about his drug use, and to warn them he once again may be a danger to the community.

A spokesman from the state’s probation office said Wilson was entered into the probation program for his robbery conviction, and declined to provide any further information about his case.

Looking back on the last 12 years of her daughter’s life, Mitchell said raising her, like any child, has been expensive.

She is in talks with an attorney to recoup at least $13,000 of accumulated back child support, the state said he owned while serving his prison sentence.

“That’s just the start of it. I couldn’t even put a price tag on what he owes me over the past 12 years,” Mitchell said.

For now she will celebrate her daughter’s birthday with her, quietly.

She has yet to tell her that her father is in trouble with the law again.

“It’s hard enough just letting her know stealing is bad, then have to worry about exposing her to what he’s done,” she said.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.