El Banco Bandido struck again on 1/22/04 - Odessa

The serial bank robber struck again Thursday. The Odessa American reports this:

The FBI and Odessa police are looking for a man accused of robbing State National Bank at about 2:50 p.m. Thursday.

This is the Permian Basin's eighth bank robbery or attempted bank robbery in the past 12 months.

...

The vehicle is described as a small, navy blue vehicle — perhaps a Kia or a Toyota. It was last seen headed west on 42nd Street.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic man in his mid- to late 40s, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, about 160 pounds with dark skin, black hair and a bushy moustache.

At the time of the robbery, he was wearing a dark ball cap, wraparound sunglasses, a brown, suede jacket and blue jeans.

Bill Vanderland, Midland FBI special agent in charge, said the FBI is not discounting that this robbery may be connected to the other seven.

"The description sounds familiar to ones we've seen before," Vanderland said. "We're approaching this with the attitude that these might be linked."

Might be linked? It seems unlikely that we would have copycat bank robbers who look like one another. But, I really can't blame Agent Vanderland for being cautious with his public comments. He has to be cautious. I just think it's a darn shame they haven't yet gotten a decent photograph of the robber. And, by the way, the one in Fort Stockton may very well have been committed by another robber.

More about this bank robber in this weblog here, here, here, and here (this last one has the only published photo).

Here's a list of the other recent bank robberies or attempted bank robberies, from the Odessa American:

• Jan. 8, 2004: First National Bank, 5606 W. Wadley Ave. in Midland
• Jan. 7, 2004: Western National Bank in Big Spring
• Dec. 18, 2003: First American Bank, 2703 N. Grandview Ave.
• Dec. 18, 2003: Western National Bank, 2700 N. West County Road
• Dec. 10, 2003: First National Bank, 1000 W. Dickinson Blvd., Fort Stockton
• Nov. 12, 2003: Security State Bank, 4040 E. 42nd St.
• Jan. 27, 2003: Bank One, 2752 N. West County Rd.

(Apologies to those who are fluent in Spanish and especially to my high school Spanish teacher. "El Banco Bandido" is probably not the best word usage, but it just sounds so good!)