Lunchtime bandit moves to brunch

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The lunchtime bandit struck again, Wednesday.

This time for a late breakfast.

Police believe the same man who's pulled eight bank heists along the northern corridor of I-285 in the last six weeks hit bank No. 9.

"This is believed to be the same man responsible for bank robberies all across north metro," Cobb County police spokesman Officer Joe Hernandez said by e-mail early Wednesday evening.

At about 10:49 a.m., a slim white man wearing a navy blue baseball cap and sunglasses walked into the Bank of North Georgia at 1920 Powers Ferry Road, near Marietta, police said.

The man showed a note to the teller demanding money, and left with an undisclosed amount of cash, Hernandez said.

It appears, he ditched the burgundy Chevy SUV he's been seen driving, this time running to a white Chrysler Sebring convertible with a black top, police said.

Wachovia Bank -- he's hit four of the bank's branches, one twice -- on Tuesday doubled a reward for information leading to the man's capture, offering up to $10,000.

The lunchtime bandit, so-called because the majority of his heist were pulled around the lunch hour, was the subject of a nationally televised Fox News segment on Wednesday, roughly an hour after he hit his latest target.

Since late October, he's robbed banks in Sandy Springs, Roswell, Dunwoody, Buckhead, and northwest Atlanta near Cumberland mall.

In each scenario, he appears with a baseball cap pulled low over his face.

And on most cases, he used no weapons, although he showed a pistol stashed in his pants when he robbed a third Dunwoody bank over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Authorities say the bandit is good at blending into a, seemingly normal bank lobby scene.

Area banks, local police and the FBI are coordinating efforts to catch him, and are asking anyone with information leading to his arrest to call the FBI-Atlanta office at 404-679-9000 or the Cobb County Police at 770-499-3945.