Crime & Safety
FBI Offers $2,500 Reward for Serial Bank Robber as Search Continues
The "Cotton Ball Bandit" has been linked to seven bank robberies in Marin.
Marin’s serial bank robber now has a bounty held over his cotton-covered head.
The FBI San Francisco Division announced Thursday they are offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the “Cotton Ball Bandit,” who has allegedly robbed seven banks in Marin since December 2012.
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The Central Marin Police Authority calls him the “Cotton Ball Bandit” because of the pom-pom ball atop the brown knit hat with earflaps he wears to each robbery.
The bank robber was last seen on Sept. 4 when he robbed the Redwood Credit Union in San Rafael’s Montecito Plaza Center.
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The other six robberies include:
- A Dec. 12, 2012 robbery of the Chase Bank at 401 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Greenbrae.
- A Jan. 9 robbery at Union Bank on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Greenbrae.
- An attempted bank robbery on Jan. 22 at Union Bank in the Strawberry Village shopping center.
- July 17, 2013 at Chase Bank at 437 Corte Madera Town Center
- An Aug. 2 robbery of the Citibank, 101 Tiburon Boulevard, in the Strawberry Village shopping center.
- Aug. 21 at the Wells Fargo Bank in the Corte Madera Town Center
The alleged robber walks into a bank and presents a teller with a note demanding money. He is described as a white male adult with “scruffy facial hair”, 40 to 45 years old, about 6’ with a medium build. He wears a brown knit beanie and has worn a black rain coat, black leather gloves and eye glasses.
The FBI can be reached 24 hours a day at 415-553-7400 in the San Francisco area. All calls are confidential and tips can be left anonymously. Tips can also be submitted online at: https://tips.fbi.gov/
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