Crime Time

Police seek bank robber with bad breath, yellow teeth

Police in Ferndale, Mich., are on the lookout for a really repulsive bank robber.

Witnesses say he has yellow teeth, bad breath and looks and smells dirty, witnesses told police. He's hit the same bank twice. Maybe next time he'll come back in disguise -- he'll brush his teeth!

-- Lance Murray

Man suspected in bank robberies accused in guard's killing

Staff writer Bill Miller is reporting that Dallas police say that one of two men arrested for a bank robbery in Balch Springs, is being charged with the killing of a Brinks security guard who was loading money into an ATM in west Oak Cliff.

The man, Enrique Lopez, 25, a Mexican citizen, has been accused of fatally shooting Brinks guard Crescencio Borquez, 46, whose killing was captured on bank security cameras video. Here's a link to our story on that killing and here, where you can see the video.

The other man arrested is Jesus Sandoval, 47, a citizen of El Salvador.

-- Lance Murray

Hi! My name is .... now give me all your money

Did you hear the one about the bank robber who gave the teller his account number and his photo ID before the holdup?

It's no joke.

Police in Anchorage, Alaska, say a 34-year-old man did just that. And by the way, the FBI says he's being held on federal bank robbery charges.

-- Lance Murray

Bank teller fired after chasing robber

Last week we shared how a grocery store produce manager in Round Rock was fired after he chased a purse snatcher out of the store.

Well it has happened again, this time in Seattle, where a bank teller called the bluff of a would-be bank robber.

According to The Associated Press, Jim Nicholson, 30, got mad last week when a man shoved a backpack across the bank counter and demanded money.

Nicholson threw the bag to the floor, lunged toward the man and demanded to see a weapon. The man fled the bank, but the teller caught him several blocks away and held him until police arrived.

On Thursday, Nicholson was fired.

Bank officials declined to comment, but financial institutions routinely hold policies that forbid employees from confronting robbers. The idea is that compliance keeps a potentially violent situation from escalating.

But Nicholson didn't see it that way.

"I thought if I let him go he would rob more banks and cause more problems," he said.

He also said that he likes chasing crooks.

"It's a thrill and I'm an adrenaline-junkie person," he said. "It's the pursuit."

Read more here.

-- Bill Miller

One bank robber's pregnant; three others wore masks

While federal and local authorities are looking for the three masked men who help up a bank in Grand Prairie, authorities in North Carolina are looking for a pregnant woman who tried to rob a bank in Fayetteville.

In the North Carolina case, the woman didn't get any money, however.

As the gun-toting pregnant bandida demanded money her cell phone rang and she began talking to the caller. She then left empty-handed.

The Grand Prairie robbers got away with an undetermined amount of cash.

-- Lance Murray

13-year-old boy arrested in Illinois bank robbery

Authorities in Peoria, Ill., say a gun-wielding 13-year-old boy robbed a bank on Monday and then was found nearby with his clothes dyed red by an explosive pack that was placed in the money, the Peoria Journal Star reported.

"It's the youngest person I can remember," said Sheriff Michael McCoy. The boy faces a single count of armed robbery.

Officials now must decide whether to seek adult certification for the boy.

-- Lance Murray

Feds seek hard-hat wearing 'Village People bandit' in bank robbery

 FBI agents and police in El Paso are looking for a bank robber they're calling the Village People bandit because he looks like the construction worker from the famous '70s musical act, shown at right.

The bandit was wearing a yellow hard hat, sun glasses, jeans, a dark-gray shirt and blue jacket when he robbed a bank on the east side of El Paso.

Maybe they should check the YMCA for this macho man.

-- Lance Murray

Women bank robbers have a reason, and they're more organized

The FBI is taking a look at women bank robbers -- a somewhat new trend these days. Well, stats show that women do it for reasons other than drugs. Usually, it's to pay bills, or buy diapers.

They also do their notes in advance.

-- Elizabeth Zavala

Cross-dressing suspect recognized, despite the wig

Surveillance photos have helped Tarrant County sheriff's investigators and FBI agents arrest a man accused of bank robbery.

But this time it wouldn't have worked without some powerful face recognition.

That's because the robber of a Wells Fargo branch in Haslet last week (left) was dressed as a woman and wore a fiery red wig.

But Justin Frank Meridith (below) became a suspect after his probation officer said he recognized him from the surveillance photos from the bank that were released to the media.

Department of Public Safety records show Meridith was sentenced to 10 years' probation in 2005 following a conviction for solicitation to commit aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Read more in this report by Staff Writer Deanna Boyd.

And, to see surveillance images from on other North Texas bank robberies, check out the FBI's Bandit Tracker Website.

-- Bill Miller

'Zombie Bandit' from the '90s strikes again, police believe

Is the "Zombie Bandit" on the prowl again?

Police in Oregon believe he is.

Surveillance videos lead investigators to the conclusion that a suspect in a robbery last week in Medford is Alan David Hurwitz, 67, known as the "Zombie Bandit" for a string of bank robberies in the midwest in the 1990s.

Hurwitz served time for 18 bank holdups before being released.

Police also have linked him to a bank robbery in December in San Rafael, Calif. He got his nickname because of the vacant look on his face during the robberies in the 1990s, police say.

-- Lance Murray