Recognize the guy on the right?
The FBI and several Southern California law-enforcement agencies would love ever so much to know who he is, as he has been linked to seven bank
robberies in the region since August 2009.
His last hit was the Jan. 15 robbery of a U.S. Bank branch in Long Beach.
He's known as “The Cooler Bandit,” not because of the rocking cap but because of what he often brings to his jobs: a nylon-type cooler/lunch bag and water bottle.
Guess even bank robbers get lunch breaks.
]
What the fellow has yet to produce is a weapon, although he has given out notes that threaten to kill bank tellers if they don't comply with his demands.
He is described as a Hispanic or bi-racial male between the ages
of 16 and 25; 5-foot-5 to 6-foot tall in height; between 110 to 155 pounds; thin build,
with black hair and brown eyes.
There, that should narrow it down to about 2 million guys.
He has alternately worn sunglasses with orange lenses and clear glasses with a black outer rim. After leaving the banks, he usually continues on his way on foot, although he was once seen climbing into a
stolen 1991 white, four-door Toyota Camry.
The FBI considers the Cooler Bandit one of two of the most active bank robbers in the region, with his other heists having been pulled in El Segundo, San Gabriel, Hemet, Marina del Rey, Hacienda Heights and Glendale.
Look out, Orange County branch managers, you could be next!
Anyone with information as to the identity or whereabouts of this chap is urged to dial 9-1-1 or contact the FBI (24 hours a day, seven days a week) at (888) CANT-HIDE (888-226-8443).
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.