OGUNQUIT – By noting the license plate number of a passing car, a York police officer led detectives to a New Hampshire man accused of this week’s $24,000 robbery of the KeyBank branch in Ogunquit.

After being arrested in his hometown of Hampstead, N.H., Joshua Chalmers, 23, waived extradition Wednesday.

Investigators believe Chalmers called police in neighboring York just before the Tuesday morning robbery to report that a three-car accident had occurred a few miles from the bank. The call was designed to divert police attention so Chalmers would have time to pull off the robbery, Ogunquit police Lt. David Johnson said.

York police Officer John Lizanecz had responded to what he thought was a real car accident. After finding out there was no such accident, he learned on his police radio that the bank had been robbed.

While en route to the bank to help Ogunquit police, Lizanecz passed a car on North Village Road, and – knowing a bank had been robbed and acting on police instinct – took note of its license plate.