STROUD, Okla. (AP) — An armored car guard returned from a fast-food restaurant to find his partner gone, as much as $3 million missing and a postcard hanging inside the truck.

``Is Paris this nice this time of year? Oui. Bye,'' read the handwritten note.

FBI agents said $2 million to $3 million was taken Wednesday morning from the Loomis Armored car.

Bobby O'Neal Negri was charged in a warrant with bank robbery and became the subject of a nationwide search. The FBI said charges also would be filed against at least one other person.

Despite the taunting note, investigators do not believe Negri left the country, though they can't rule it out. The more likely destination was a metropolitan area, FBI agent Walt Lamar said, without elaborating. Because Negri was born in Georgia, Atlanta is one of the cities where he was being sought.

The armored car was dispatched from Oklahoma City on a money-collecting route that took it on the Turner Turnpike, a 90-mile toll road linking Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Stroud, where the driver stopped, is about midway between the two cities.

A third Loomis employee was supposed to have been with the truck but had called in sick. Agents interviewed the man and determined he was not involved. Loomis declined to comment on the robbery.

The guard disappeared on his 30th birthday.



Posted at 12:55 p.m. PDT Thursday, June 26, 1997