Accomplished trumpet player charged in Albany bank robbery

ALBANY - Joe Maxey was the principal trumpet player with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, a backup choir director at First United Methodist Church and the former leader of the Georgia Army National Guard band. <br> <br> But Tuesday, the 54-year-old Maxey was arrested for robbing an Albany bank with a toy gun. <br> <br> Police Captain Ernest Williams said, ``We still don&#39;t know why he did it.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Williams said several people identified Maxey as the man who pulled the toy gun and demanded money in denominations of 20&#39;s, tens and fives at Regions Bank on Monday. A video of the robbery was aired by local television stations that evening. <br> <br> Officials said Maxey, who also owns a music store, has been charged with one count of armed robbery and could face federal charges. <br> <br> The trumpeter&#39;s arrest, in a pre-dawn raid on his upscale home by FBI agents, U.S. marshals and Albany police officers, stunned fellow musicians and members of his church congregation. <br> <br> Maxey performed widely in churches, in jazz groups, in pit bands for theatrical performances and with the symphony. <br> <br> He was the band director at Albany Junior College, now known as Darton College, in the late 70s and early 80s, commanded the National Guard band until his retirement in the 1990s and opened his music store, Maximum Music, in 1998. <br> <br> The Reverend Robert Beckum, senior minister at First Methodist, said he had visited Maxey at the Dougherty County Jail yesterday and planned to return Wednesday. <br> <br> Beckum said, ``He&#39;s doing reasonably well for all he&#39;s been through.&#39;&#39;