Ventura County's busiest bank robber of 2001 is called the "Both Hands Bandit" by the FBI because he gingerly displays his holdup notes to tellers with both hands, one at each corner.
Since August, he has been responsible for eight bank robberies in Ventura County, according to police.
And thanks to him, local bank robberies increased to 29, topping the previous year's total by seven, according to FBI Special Agent Brent Robbins.
"He's slick," said Robbins, "but we're working on him."
In security-camera images, the man appears to be as young as in his 40s or as old as in his 60s. He is described as white, with a pale complexion, 5-feet-10 to 6 feet tall, with graying blond hair and blue eyes. He wears prescription glasses.
In addition to the Ventura County robberies, the Both Hands Bandit is blamed for a Santa Barbara bank holdup last month.
Authorities say they're confident the Both Hands Bandit--a man brazen enough to rob the same bank and even the same teller twice--will soon be caught.
"I would say this will be the last Christmas he should enjoy in freedom-land," Robbins said.
On Aug. 26, the man robbed the Goleta National Bank on South Victoria Avenue in Ventura. Three days later, he returned, presenting a holdup note to the same teller.
"Hi, it's me again," he told her. "I'm back."
Police have solved nine of the county's bank robberies this year. Last year, they solved 14.
Despite the whimsical names applied by the FBI to bank robbers with distinctive traits, the incidents can terrify employees and customers.
Last month, three masked men dressed in black barged into a Bank of America branch in Thousand Oaks, screaming for everyone inside to get down. Two of the men leaped over the counter while the third kept watch over the customers. At least one of the men brandished a gun.
The robbers may have been members of a Los Angeles street gang, which is believed to have hit the same branch twice the previous year, according to police.
Banks in Thousand Oaks were robbed five times in 2001, down from nine times in 2000. Close to Los Angeles and just off the Ventura Freeway, the city has been a frequent target for bank robbers in the past. City officials have credited the recent decrease to a task force set up in March 2000, after banks in the Conejo Valley were hit seven times in less than a month.
