Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Crook loves clothes

Man who robbed eight S. Florida banks wears costumes, FBI says

- By Linda Trischitta Staff writer

Just in time for Halloween: A busy bank robbery suspect who likes to dress up.

He’s appeared before tellers while wearing a surgeon’s lightblue scrubs, in a hunter’s flannel shirt and camouflage cap, a constructi­on worker’s orange vest and sometimes, he’s just a bro with a baseball hat. And the FBI wants him bad, because since late September, this lean young man with wavy light brown or blonde hair has robbed eight banks in Broward and Palm Beach counties, authoritie­s said.

“We’re calling him ‘The Shaky Bandit,’ because he tends to shake while he is robbing the banks,” Special Agent Michael Leverock said Wednesday. “His reason for shaking is unknown.”

Leverock also said the suspect may be armed.

“He has threatened violence to the bank employees,” Leverock said.

The FBI said that during holdups, the suspect has implied that he has a weapon, but none were shown in photograph­s from the robberies that

were released by authoritie­s.

“We’re treating him as if he’s armed,” Leverock said. “We’re gonna take his word for it.”

The FBI won’t say how much money was stolen. So far, the suspect has passed notes to tellers and no one has been hurt.

Here are the banks the man of many costumes has robbed, according to the FBI:

Sept. 27, 11:22 a.m., Citibank, 3101 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale.

Oct. 1, 2:45 p.m., TD Bank, 665 NW 62nd St., Fort Lauderdale.

Oct. 3, 5:11 p.m., Chase, 555 N. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach.

Oct. 4, 5:18 p.m., Wells Fargo, 400 N. State Road 7, Margate.

Oct. 6, 4:45 p.m., PNC, 999 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. At 5:56 p.m., the FBI says he held up another PNC branch, at 4560 Lyons Rd. in Coconut Creek.

Oct. 9, 2:21 p.m., Wells Fargo, 2525 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors.

Oct. 10, 2:45 p.m., Chase, 2425 W. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. Jupiter police say he left without getting any cash, and may have been driven away in a silver Mazda3 hatchback.

The FBI asks anyone with informatio­n about the suspect or these incidents to call 754-703-2000 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

Broward County Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous tips and pays up to $3,000 for informatio­n that leads to an arrest.

To share informatio­n about the Jupiter and Boynton Beach robberies, call the FBI or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County, at 800-458-8477.

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