Nobles County Drops State Charges Against 'Man-in-Black' Suspect

With federal charges proceeding against the suspected “Man in Black,” Nobles County has dismissed state charges against the man accused of robbing banks across the Twin Cities.

Nobles County Attorney Gordon Moore told Patch on Monday that he’d dismissed charges against 49-year-old Mark Edward Wetsch of Minneapolis.

County prosecutors charged Wetsch with aggravated robbery, terroristic threats and theft following a Jan. 3 robbery at Rolling Hills Bank in Brewster. Wetsch admitted to the Brewster robbery and unspecified other robberies, according to court documents.

 the robbery that it was investigating whether he was the “Man in Black” thought to have hit numerous banks in the Twin Cities. On Thursday, that charged Wetsch with 13 counts of armed bank robbery in connection with incidents dating back to March 9—including the same Brewster robbery for which Nobles County had already charged him.

The federal government will now pursue the case against Wetsch, Moore said.

The “Man-in-Black”—so named because of his propensity for wearing dark-colored clothing during his robbery spree—was thought to have committed . However, the indictment unsealed Thursday did not contain any charges related to the Hopkins robbery.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office can’t disclose information on the investigation, including details on whether Wetsch is still suspected in the Hopkins robbery, a spokeswoman for the agency said. There are about 20 other “banks of suspicion” for which charges have not been filed, although the office could add charges later, she said