Ex-Phoenix officer accused of armed bank robberies

by Michael Ferraresi - Dec. 10, 2010 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

A former Phoenix police officer has been arrested on suspicion of five Valley bank robberies in which he is accused of making off with more than $133,000.

Chad Michael Goulding, 40, who left the Police Department in 2005 after 13 years, was taken into custody after a four-year investigation involving the FBI's Bank Robbery Task Force and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, the agencies announced Thursday.

A 95-count indictment accuses Goulding of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and theft in a string of Bank of America robberies in Mesa, Glendale, Chandler and Scottsdale over five months in 2006.

Nathan Gray, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's Phoenix division, heralded Goulding's arrest as an example of the task force's commitment to "reducing the number of armed serial bank robberies."

Goulding wore a ski mask during the heists, according to investigators. He was identified in part through "assistance from the public," officials said.

He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Goulding was one of several Phoenix officers involved in the high-profile 1996 fatal shooting of 16-year-old Julio Valerio, a case that led to protests against the Police Department and changes in policy on use of force.

He was also reprimanded earlier that year for using threatening language to intimidate a man who was arrested after bailing out of a stolen car on foot.