Crime & Safety

Updated: San Rafael Bank Robbery Probe Continues into the Night

More questions than answers remain as police try to determine whether the robber pictured in a photo police distributed to the media is the "Cotton Ball Bandit."

Was that the “Cotton Ball Bandit” who hit a San Rafael bank today, or was it somebody else?

Did the robber use a real gun or a replica?

Those are among the questions dogging police investing the robbery of a CitiBank on 1004 Northgate Drive in the city's Terra Linda neighborhood at about 11:07 a.m.

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Teams of officers will be working with detectives into the night investigating this case, San Rafael police Sgt. Raul Aguilar told Patch.

“It's still an active investigation,” he said.

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“(Detectives) have developed leads and we're going to follow those leads all night, until they get cold.”

Aguilar declined to confirm key details of the case reported earlier today by the Marin Independent Journal that included descriptions of the robber as a 5-foot 10-inch 200-pound white man and his vehicle as a full-sized white Dodge pickup truck.

Aguilar said investigators are operating under the assumption that the weapon brandished during the robbery was a real gun.

The IJ report cites unnamed polices sources describing the weapon as a “ 'sci-fi'-style toy gun.”

“The picture that's out there is too grainy to ascertain whether it's a replica, whether it's a BB gun or whether it's a 45 or 22 (caliber firearm),” Aguilar said.

“Unfortunately these days sometimes real guns are made out to look like they're toys and visa versa,” he added, noting that real guns are sometimes decorated with fluorescent paint and stickers “to throw law enforcement off.”

“I have to assume that it's a real gun.”

The bank employees apparently shared Aguilar's assumption.

“We can't tell what it is and the employees of the bank said they were in fear of this item,” Aguilar said.

“The victim teller was in fear for her life and she complied with (the robber's) demands.”

The robber escaped with an unspecified amount of cash.

Nobody was hurt during the robbery, Aguilar said.

It's not clear, however, whether the culprit of this heist is the “Cotton Ball Bandit,” a serial bank robber believed to be one of the most prolific in Marin County history.

The “Cotton Ball Bandit” has been tied to nine bank robberies in Marin County in the last year. His most recent heist occurred at a Terra Linda Wells Fargo Bank on 600 Las Galinas Avenue on Oct. 30 shortly after 9 a.m.

Police say the “Cotton Ball Bandit” usually strikes on Wednesdays during the 9 a.m. hour and always wears a hat – usually a knit cap with a pom-pom that earned him his nickname. He wore a baseball cap in others, including the Oct. 30 heist.

Today's incident involved a hat-less robber who bears some resemblance to the “Cotton Ball Bandit.”

Police earlier today told Patch they didn't believe the heist involved the serial robber, but Aguilar said it's not clear to investigators that that's the case.

The FBI is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to a conviction of the “Cotton Ball Bandit.”

The agency's wanted poster includes four photos of him from surveillance video taken from separate incidents.

Aguilar confirmed that the FBI was notified of today's robbery per protocol, but said it was not clear how deeply the agency is involved in the investigation.

He said police are reviewing all available video and photos.

“That's something that we need to investigate thoroughly,” Aguilar said.

“At this stage I don't think we can prove or disprove whether they're one and the same.”

This story will be updated as soon as additional information becomes available.

Anyone with information about either of these cases is asked to call San Rafael Police at 415.485.3000 or Crime Stoppers at 1.800.222.TIPS (8477). This phone number accommodates all languages. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.

Tips can also be made online through Silent Witness at www.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. 



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