PHILADELPHIA -- A suspected bank robber is behind bars thanks to an unusual bust in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia.

Slideshow: Couple Catches Alleged Bank Robber

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Husband, Wife Team Catch Suspect

A husband and wife team, who spotted the suspect leaving the bank, nabbed him.

Off-duty Philadelphia police officer Greg Rice and his wife Leslie were pulling into the parking lot of a Wachovia Bank branch in Mayfair when they noticed something fishy. They saw a man was running from the bank with a wad of cash in his hand.

Rice and his wife decided they needed to try and stop the man. So the duo jumped in their car and began chasing the alleged bank robber.

Rice gives his wife a lot of credit for helping out. “You know, she was my eyes because I’m talking on the phone to 911, trying to give them my location.”

The chase ended about a mile away from the bank, in the 3400 block of Tyson Avenue, where Rice chased the suspect down by foot and caught up with him.

Rice says he normally doesn’t carry his service pistol while he is off duty but he says something told him to take it today. “I believe it was divine intervention,” said Rice.

The suspect, Thomas Heifer, was also wanted for the robbery of another Philadelphia bank. Heifer confessed to both robberies.

Heifer is a former Philadelphia police officer. Sources tell NBC 10 he spent 7 years on the job and left the department in 1978 for unknown reasons.