Bearded Bandit Update: Identifying Details Released

CONCORD, CA- A 30-year-old suspected serial bank robber dubbed the "Bearded Bandit" was arrested Wednesday after a citizen reported seeing him acting suspiciously in a Safeway store in Brentwood, according to police.

The man, a Stockton resident whose name has not yet been released, is accused of stealing more than $24,000 from 11 banks in the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California in a spree beginning last month.

He was apprehended after a citizen who saw surveillance images of the suspect reported seeing him with his signature full, trimmed beard around 3 p.m. Wednesday in a Safeway at 3110 Balfour Road, Concord police Cpl. Christopher Blakely said.

Arriving Brentwood police officers did not find the suspect at the Safeway, but the Mustang he was suspected of using was located in the parking lot, Blakely said. Officers staked out the vehicle, which the suspect came back to about three hours later, after completely shaving his head and his shaving beard into a goatee, Blakely said.

The officers eventually conducted a traffic stop on the man and he surrendered peacefully. He was detained by Brentwood police before Concord police investigators arrived to arrest him. As of shortly before 2 p.m., Blakely said the man was currently being transferred from the Concord Police Department's jail to the Martinez Detention Facility.

Concord police investigators are conducting follow-up interviews with witnesses and also executing search warrants. The man's name will be released upon the completion of the investigation. The suspect has been tied to 15 incidents -- 11 bank robberies, an attempted robbery and three reports of him casing banks, according to the FBI.

Most recently, he was suspected of back-to-back bank robberies in Contra Costa and Solano counties on Monday. Since the spree began on Feb. 12, he was also tied to bank robberies in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, as well as neighboring Monterey, Yolo and Sacramento counties.

See Also:

• Bearded Bandit Strikes Twice in East Bay
• Bearded Bandit Robs East Bay Banks Monday
• Bearded Bandit Robs Lafayette Bank Monday
• U.S. Bank in Dublin Robbed by Bearded Bandit Tuesday
• Tri-Valley Bank Robbed Thursday

By Bay City News