NEVADA CITY, Calif. August 29, 2016 – There’s an FBI guy in Los Angeles who gets to name the local bank robbers. Seems to be nobody up here doing that job, and since we’re a weekly newspaper I think there’s some spare time available, so here goes.
The Nevada City branch of Tri Counties Bank on Railroad Avenue has been robbed three times in the past 18 months.
There used to be a bank right downtown where folks could keep an eye on it, but that morphed into an ATM machine at the National Hotel. The bank that’s getting robbed is tucked away up Sacramento Street hill from town, behind a convenience store. The recent robberies there seem to have been done on foot. No weapon was seen. According to the American Bankers Association the most likely time for a robbery is a Friday morning. The average take? Four grand. No word on how much Tri Counties lost in the three holdups.
The local robber wore sunglasses and a baseball cap. And grey tennis shoes. Not much to work with there. Catchy bank robber names usually come from how the perp is dressed. But sometimes the robber is so stupid the crime solves itself. Take the bank robber whose face was captured on camera. He had a tattoo on his neck: his name and phone number. Not ready for prime crime.
The Feebs in LA name their bank robbers so they can keep track of them all. Right now there are about 80 serial robbers working the turf down there. In 2013 they had 200 bank holdups, down from 2,600 in 1992. So, they get names. Special Agent Steve May is the namer and he’s come up with some good ones. There is the Gone Plaid Bandit, not to be confused with the Forever Plaid Bandit. The Geezer Bandit is not the Geriatric Bandit. Ditto to the Drifter Bandit and Hobo Bandit.
Hard to beat.
Let’s see…we could call our holdup artist the Triple Threat Robber, Three Time Thief, Walk Away Bandit, Morning Walk Robber. Nope, nothing there that’ll catch Wolf Blitzer’s eye. Three Strikes Bandit? Wait, wait! Remember that movie actor who used to be governor? No, the other one. Let’s call our local robber the I’ll Be Back Bandit!
Editor’s note: The Mountain Messenger, California’s oldest weekly newspaper since 1853, is published on Thursdays from Downieville, California.
The Mountain Messenger can be purchased for half a buck at the National Hotel (sidewalk), Nevada City SPD (outside), Nevada City Express Mart (outside) and in front of Safeway, Brunswick area.
I will NEVER understand why they abandoned the old BofA spot for whatever it is now (public defender’s office?!). As stated above, the present location of Tri-Counties is screaming ROB ME PLEASE! They should move to the old BofA location and be done with it.