Former Arena Football Player Suspected in Unusual Bank Robbery
TULARE – A former arena football player and high school standout was arrested on Monday for allegedly trying to rob a bank in Tulare.
Police said that 31-year-old Nichiren Flowers went into the Wells Fargo Bank in the 200 block of East Tulare Avenue around 2:50 p.m. Instead of asking for cash, the suspect passed a note to the bank teller demanding that money be transferred into an account, police said.
Officers responded to the bank branch for reports of a robbery in progress. They received information from a bank employee that helped them arrest Flowers without incident. He was taken into custody inside the bank, police said.
There were no injuries reported during the attempted bank robbery and no weapon was recovered, police said.
Flowers was booked into the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility on suspicion of first-degree robbery, a felony.
Flowers was on the roster of arena football teams as a receiver in the years 2007, 2010-11, and 2014. He is also played football at Tulare High School and the University of Nevada. He is featured on the BodyBuilding.com website in a “Fit Team Member Spotlight.”
