Suspect Held in 6 ‘Cowboy Bandit’ Heists

A 37-year-old roofer has been arrested in connection with six recent bank robberies in which the robber was dubbed the “Cowboy Bandit” after he twice wore a cowboy hat and sported a casual, western style, Glendale police announced Sunday.

Warren Matthew Sims was taken into custody Saturday after a tipster told authorities the suspect resembled the widely broadcast description of the bank robber as a slender, blond man in his 30s. The caller said Sims had been working on a construction site near Chevy Chase Park in the Atwater Village area of Los Angeles.

Glendale investigators set up a surveillance of the area and arrested Sims without incident. He was being held in the Glendale city jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, Lt. Raymond Edey said.

Through witnesses and bank surveillance cameras, Sims has so far been identified in three of the six holdups that began in August, Edey said.

No one was hurt during the crimes, in which the robber pointed a handgun at a teller and said, “I want to make a withdrawal.”

Police said a relatively small total was taken in the string of robberies, which occurred in northeast Los Angeles as well as Glendale. But “you want to get the guy because you figure he has a propensity for violence due to the fact that he carries a gun,” said Glendale Police Investigator Dennis Smith.

Smith said police found evidence that Sims uses cocaine, but did not know whether the construction worker--a father of two whose wife is pregnant--has a drug habit.

The crimes began in late August and included two holdups at the Bank of America on Colorado Boulevard in Glendale and one at the Great Western Bank on North Glendale Avenue in Glendale, Edey said.