'Pink Lady Bandits' Arrested In Charlotte: FBI

CHARLOTTE, NC — The FBI announced Monday that it arrested two people at a Charlotte hotel in connection with the so-called "Pink Lady Bandit" bank robberies along the East Coast. Circe Baez, 35, and Alexis Morales, 38, were taken into custody Sunday, July 28, at the Charlotte Speedway Inn & Suites at 1408 West Sugar Creek Road by members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, the FBI said in a statement.

The bank robberies occurred at these locations:

• Orrstown Bank, 1 Giant Lane, Carlisle, Pa., on July 20;
• M&T Bank, 19511 Camelot Drive, Rehoboth Beach, Del., on Tuesday, July 23;
• Southern Bank, 236 West 3rd St. in Ayden, N.C., on Wednesday, July 24;
• BB&T, 8 Raleigh St. in Hamlet, N.C., on Friday, July 26.

Each robbery involved a woman the FBI dubbed the "Pink Lady," who carried a distinctive pink handbag.

In the statement, the bureau said that evidence gathered by a police task force investigating the robberies led FBI agents and police officers "to identify Circe Baez as the woman who robbed at least four banks."

The agents and officers uncovered more evidence after the robbery Friday in Hamlet to identify Morales as an accomplice, the FBI said.

Baez and Morales were taken to Pitt County, in eastern North Carolina, where they went before a magistrate judge and were booked into the county jail in Greenville, each on a $4 million bond, the FBI said.

At this time, they're charged in connection with the bank robberies in Ayden and Hamlet. Baez also is charged by the Carlisle Police Department in Pennsylvania.

Baez and Morales are likely facing more robbery charges from other state agencies, as well as federal charges, the FBI said.

The task force included FBI agents and officers from the Delaware State Police, as well as the police departments in Carlisle, Pa., and in Greenville, Ayden and Hamlet.