San Diego County authorities still searching for ‘Hipster Bandit’
Reporting from San Diego — He is white, in his late 20s or early 30s, with tattoos on his upper left arm, and he sometimes wears sunglasses and rides a motorcycle.
San Diego County authorities have dubbed him the Hipster Bandit – suspected of robbing eight banks.
His latest heist occurred Saturday at a Wells Fargo Bank inside a Vons grocery store on El Camino Real near Aviara Parkway in Carlsbad, FBI Special Agent Davene Butler said Friday. No other information about the robbery was released.
In previous hold-ups, which began last summer, the bandit has similarly targeted bank branches inside grocery stores and used a demand note. He typically waits in line, greets the teller and shows him or her the note, FBI officials said.
About 2:20 p.m. on May 18, he robbed a Union Bank inside a Ralphs grocery store on Old Grove Road near Mission Avenue in Oceanside. That came 10 minutes after a failed attempt at Vons on College Boulevard near state Route 76, FBI officials said.
The same man is also believed to be responsible for robberies at a Wells Fargo in a Vons on Clairemont Drive in San Diego on Jan. 9, a Wells Fargo in a Vons on Scripps Poway Parkway in San Diego on Nov. 2 of last year, a U.S. Bank in an Albertson’s on Mission Road in Fallbrook on Sept. 25, 2015 and a U.S. Bank in an Albertson’s on Fletcher Parkway in La Mesa on July 2, 2015.
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Investigators say he also has robbed a bank and tried to rob another outside of San Diego County.
Authorities have not disclosed how much money the Hipster Bandit has gotten away with.
The suspect is further described as 5-feet-3 to 5-feet-5 and thin, about 110 to 140 pounds, with brown hair. In addition to riding either a Harley Davidson or Triumph motorcycle, authorities said he is believed to have also used a blue SUV in some robberies.
Authorities are offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
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