GLENDALE : Police Seek Help in Finding ‘Stetson Bandit’

A man dubbed the “Stetson bandit” for wearing a 10-gallon hat in a string of three bank robberies apparently dropped his disguise in his fourth crime, when he robbed $3,000 from a Great Western Bank branch in Glendale last week, police said.

Glendale police released a photograph taken by the bank’s security camera during the Sept. 10 robbery, showing a white man between 30 and 40 years old, with thinning blond hair and sunglasses. They said they hope someone will recognize the suspect and turn him in.

“My feeling is that this individual may live in the (Glendale) area, or that he could be working in the area,” said robbery Investigator Will Currie. “Then again, with his brazenness, it’s possible that he’s not from around here.”

Police believe the first in the spate of robberies took place Aug. 29 at a Wells Fargo branch in Montrose. In that crime, a man wearing a cowboy hat and sporting a mustache and slight beard walked into the bank, pointed a gun at a teller and escaped with $2,650.

On Sept. 3, a man matching the same description robbed $1,085 from a Union Federal Bank branch on Glendale Boulevard in Silver Lake. On Sept. 7, a teller at the Citizens Bank branch on Foothill Boulevard in La Canada was robbed of $150. In each case, witnesses told police the man carried a small handgun and put the cash into a bag.

Police had obtained bank-camera photos of the man taken during the previous robberies, but Currie said the picture from the Great Western heist provides the clearest image of the man thus far. Also, witnesses reported seeing the man escape in a mid-1980s Chevrolet mid-size pickup that had no rear bumper.

The robbery in La Canada was the first such crime in that city in nine months, and it so alarmed officials there that they held a meeting with local bank managers and an FBI investigator Monday to discuss a possible ordinance to force banks to install security doors and hire guards.

La Canada Mayor David Spence said city officials implored area bank managers to take steps to ward off robbers, but does not plan to legislate any changes.

“The best way to prevent robberies is to make your particular bank appear to be a hard target for a potential robber,” Spence said. “That could take the form of having an armed security guard, or having only one entrance and exit, but it’s up to the individual bank.”

Currie said Glendale police will distribute pamphlets with the suspect’s picture to area banks.

“We hope someone recognizes him, but the problem is, he could put on another mustache and a different hat and look completely different,” he said.