‘Cotton Ball Bandit’ Strikes Again

With authorities throughout Marin County already on heightened alert for a serial bank robber on a nearly yearlong spree, the “Cotton Ball Bandit” struck again.

Police say the man who held up a Novato Chase Bank at 1595 Grant Avenue shortly after the bank opened at 9 a.m. on Thursday matches the description of the serial robber.

The “Cotton Ball Bandit” – so named because of the pom-pom ball atop the brown knit hat with earflaps he’s worn during most of his robberies - has hit 10 Marin County banks since last December including two in Marin and one in San Anselmo.

The robber was unarmed during the heist, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Nearly all of his robberies have occurred in the 9 a.m. hour. Most have been on Wednesdays.

The incident is the first tied to him since he robbed a Terra Linda Wells Fargo Bank on 600 Las Galinas Avenue on Oct. 30.

It’s the second bank robbery in Marin County in less than a week.

Alphonso Miquel Pazos, 56 of San Rafael, has been charged for allegedly robbing a Terra Linda CitiBank on 1004 Northgate Drive on Friday morning at gunpoint using a replica weapon.

Pazos was arrested within 12 hours of the robbery. His arraignment is scheduled for Friday.

The FBI confirmed earlier this week that Pazos isn’t the “Cotton Ball Bandit.”

A Larkspur Lucky store was held up gunpoint at about 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 14 by a robber wielding a semiautomatic handgun who police say wore a motorcycle helmet and fled on a razor-style scooter.

The “Cotton Ball Bandit” was last seen in Thursday’s incident wearing a black hat, black jacket and black pants.

He hasn’t worn his signature knit cap for which he was nicknamed during the two most recent incidents.

The “Cotton Ball Bandit” is described as a white man between 40 and 50 years old, standing between 5 feet 7 and 5 feet 10 inches tall with a medium build and unshaven face.

Officers were dispatched around 9:05 a.m. after being notified of the Novato robbery. An investigation revealed that the suspect had entered the bank, demanded money and ran away with undisclosed amount cash, police said. A search of the neighborhood came up empty.

The “Cotton Ball Bandit’s” robbery spree started on Dec. 12 of last year when he hit a Greenbrae Chase Bank on 401 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

He went dark for than six months after robbing a Mill Valley Union Bank on 800 Redwood Highway on Jan. 22. His next heist was on July 17, when he hit a Corte Madera Chase Bank on 437 Corte Madera Town Center. 

The “Cotton Ball Bandit” is Marin County’s most prolific bank robber in more than a decade. He’s the first to reach double digits in bank heists since Tracy Bittner robbed his 11th in 2000, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

Bittner was nicknamed the “Bicycle Bandit” because he fled robbery scenes on two wheels, the IJ reports. He served a 40-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to nine heists in which he reportedly stole $58,000.

Authorities have not disclosed how much cash the “Cotton Ball Bandit” has stolen per local enforcement protocol to discourage future incidents.

Anyone with information regarding Thursday's incident is asked to contact the Novato Police Department, Detective Justin Stevenson at (415) 897-4361. 

Tips can also be made online through Silent Witness atwww.srpd.org/tips. The FBI has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the robber known as the “Cotton Ball Bandit.”

Information can be left on the FBI’s confidential tip line at 415-553-7400.