Authorities on Tuesday nabbed a man in Englewood whom they believe to be the “Bandana Bandit,” responsible for nine bank robberies in the Denver metro area since early 1995.
The suspect’s name was not released. A Douglas County sheriff’s official said the man was in his 20s.
He was arrested without incident when officers in an unmarked car spotted his vehicle after he robbed his ninth bank, the Air Academy Federal Credit Union, 545 W. Highlands Ranch Parkway, in Highlands Ranch, of an undisclosed amount of cash, Douglas sheriff’s Lt. Alan Stanton said.
Sheriff’s deputies along with officers from the Littleton Police Department corralled the suspect’s Nissan Maxima at about 3:30 p.m. on South Santa Fe Drive and they recovered a semi-automatic handgun, Stanton said.
“The most positive thing we see here is that no citizens or officers were injured from this incident and to the best of our knowledge no one was hurt in any of the previous robberies,” he said.
The FBI called the robber the “Bandana Bandit” because in past robberies he would enter a bank wearing a hooded jacket with a bandana over his face.
In Tuesday’s incident, similar clothing was worn but there was no bandana, Stanton said.
However, investigators still link the suspect to the other robberies because of a number of other matching descriptions, including the suspect’s getaway car, a silver Nissan, he said.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
