Local News in Brief : Bandit Takes $3,300 in Bank Robbery

A woman known to law enforcement officials as the “Miss America Bandit” robbed a Culver City bank teller at gunpoint Thursday, making off with about $3,300 in her 10th bank robbery since March, police said. But the cash was rigged to a tiny anti-theft canister that exploded, covering her and the loot with red dye before she left the bank.

The robbery by the woman, described as about 30 years old, came one day after she struck two South Bay area banks, making off with an undisclosed amount of money, FBI spokesman Jim Neilson said.

On Thursday, the woman was wearing a red wig when she entered the Security Pacific National Bank at 11140 Jefferson Blvd. about 2:30 p.m., Lt. Ellis Smith said. She got into line, approached a teller and told her, “Give me the money or I’ll blow your head off,” displaying a gun in her purse, Smith said.