Bank robber drops clues during getaway

Police recover discarded disguise after bank heist

A serial bank robber who likes his disguises and has managed to elude Honolulu police for the last nine months struck again last week, but this time he left a little something behind.

Police said the man wore a fake wig, beard, and a security guard uniform that he tore off and discarded right after he left the Hickam Federal Credit Union in Kapolei on Friday.

"It (the uniform) was held together with Velcro like a stripper's costume and that can be ripped off, and that's what he did. He ripped it off and dumped it right outside the bank," said Detective Kim Capllonch, CrimeStoppers coordinator.

This latest robbery marks the 13th known hit by the unnamed master of disguise since last October.

Capllonch said the suspect was seen entering a light brown pickup truck which then fled the scene. Although the suspect has been seen many times by tellers at financial institutions all around the island, and clear images of him have been captured on security cameras multiple times, police said they have not helped them track the suspect down.

"He's always in disguise; nobody has had a good look at his face," Capllonch said.

The robberies began on Oct. 24 at American Savings Bank, located at 99-115 Aiea Heights Drive, Aiea. Police said the suspect had bleached blond hair at the time and wore a baseball cap and black button-down shirt. After demanding money, he fled the scene.

Some of his more notable disguises since then include the construction worker outfit he wore on Dec. 22, complete with yellow safety vest and hard hat. During two separate robberies in April of this year, he wore blue hospital scrubs with wigs and fake beards.

And on June 29, witnesses at Central Pacific Bank in Wahiawa said someone wearing a camouflage outfit complete with a black military-style beret and bandages around his head and left eye handed tellers a demand note for money, then took off with the cash down Plum Street.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or by dialing *CRIME on a cellular phone.