Alison Dirr

Appleton Post-Crescent

APPLETON - A 19-year-old man arrested in connection with the Friday robbery of Community First Credit Union on West Spencer Street told police he "decided to try something new today, so I robbed a bank," according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Xengxai Yang of Appleton was charged Monday in Outagamie County court with robbery of a financial institution with a dangerous weapon, according to the criminal complaint.

Outagamie County Court Commissioner Brian Figy ordered him held on a $250,000 cash bond. His next court date is set for March 28.

RELATED:Man arrested for robbing Community First Credit Union

According to the criminal complaint:

A teller at the credit union described the robber as a person wearing a mask and black clothing with a long gun.

She said the person told her to put her hands up and told the manager to come out to the lobby.

He said he wanted $10,000, and the tellers put money from their cash drawers on the counter, she said. The teller said he used a zip tie to bind her hands and she believed he bound the manager's hands, too.

She then heard the door click and believed he had left.

As an officer arrived, he saw a man walking quickly away from the credit union wearing sunglasses, black clothing and what appeared to be a black ski mask.

An officer who searched him found a modified .22-caliber rifle in his waistband with a round in the chamber. Police also found two magazines of .22-caliber ammunition and a box of ammunition in his pants pockets.

They also found zip ties in the front pocket of the hooded sweatshirt Yang was wearing.

Yang told police that he had "decided to try something new today, so I robbed a bank." The robbery wasn't planned, he said.

He said the gun wasn't loaded when he went into the credit union but he "cocked it" after the employees gave him the money. He believed three employees were present.

He said he zip-tied the employees' hands after taking the money to prevent them from pressing an emergency button.

He couldn't provide a reason for the robbery except that he wanted to "try something new," the complaint states.

He said he cut the rifle's barrel and stock to make it shorter.

Police recovered $10,745 from him.

Contact Alison Dirr at 920-996-7266 or adirr@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.