Posted on 01/12/2005 12:07:19 PM PST by presidio9
The FBI (news - web sites) says it may have reeled in the "Fishing Hat Bandit," a bank robber who has pulled 23 holdups in the area over the past 18 months.
On Friday, SWAT team officers pulled a man out of a car trunk, where he was hiding with a pile of cash, a few hours after a credit union nearby was robbed. Police said the bank's president had followed the robber and pinpointed his location for police. "We are aggressively investigating as to whether or not the suspect arrested today is also known as the Fishing Hat Bandit," FBI agent Paul McCabe said.
The bandit's nickname comes from the floppy hats worn during many of his robberies. (The man arrested Friday was not wearing such a hat; he had a large hood pulled up on his head.)
Dean Wickstrom, president of Real Financial Center, had followed the holdup man out of the bank and called police on his cellphone. SWAT officers went garage-by-garage and found the suspect's car, with the back seat apparently pried open and the windows fogged up.
When they could not get a response from anyone inside the car, police attached a cable and dragged it out of the garage. The suspect was arrested without a shot fired.
There was immediate speculation that the suspect was the Fishing Hat Bandit. The car was a maroon Chevrolet, resembling the getaway car in a Dec. 17 robbery at a credit union in Northfield. The suspect - a white man in his 50s, slim build - also resembled descriptions of the Fishing Hat Bandit. The suspect's name was not released.
Wickstrom said the bank had been hit by the Fishing Hat Bandit last summer. In that robbery, the bank's marketing officer also followed the robber out of the bank, and later briefed police and Wickstrom on the man's appearance.
"A lot of other people did what I did," Wickstrom said. "I just happened to see where he went. I know everyone who works in a bank and is exposed feels better now, so I'm glad I chased him."
Let's watch those references to fishermen.
The boy can motor.
"Funny thing is, during his 23 bank hold-ups, not once did he wear a fishing hat. He actually went hatless, and showed off his huge baldspot that has a tattoo of a dollas sign. Now, I can't draw someone with a baldspot and a tattoo any more than I can draw someone with deep, penetrating eyes, so I sketched him with a fishing hat instead and the media started calling him the Fishing Hat Bandit."
One of Norm McDonald's best skits on SNL.
FBI: 'Fishing Hat Bandit' is threat no more
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