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'Granddad Bandit' captured in Baton Rouge, FBI says
USINFO | 2013-08-14 17:20
BATON ROUGE, La. — The man dubbed the "Granddad Bandit" by the FBI and suspected in 25 bank robberies across 13 states was captured Wednesday at his home after a lengthy standoff that ended peacefully, authorities said.
Police and FBI agents surrounded the Baton Rouge home in the morning and nearly six hours later walked out with a stocky, balding man with graying hair and glasses, who was surrounded by officers and put into a police car.
The FBI identified him to the public for the first time as 52-year-old Michael Francis Mara and arrested him on a warrant charging him with robbing a bank in Richmond, Va.
Last week, the FBI began posting pictures of the "Granddad Bandit" on billboards across the country, saying he was connected to a string of robberies dating back to a 2008 holdup of a SunTrust Bank in downtown Richmond. U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride in the Eastern District of Virginia credited the billboards with helping catch Mara.
According to an FBI affidavit filed Friday in federal court in Virginia, the FBI received a tip last week from someone who identified Mara as the robber and gave authorities photographs to match to bank surveillance videos.
Police and FBI agents surrounded the Baton Rouge home in the morning and nearly six hours later walked out with a stocky, balding man with graying hair and glasses, who was surrounded by officers and put into a police car.
The FBI identified him to the public for the first time as 52-year-old Michael Francis Mara and arrested him on a warrant charging him with robbing a bank in Richmond, Va.
Last week, the FBI began posting pictures of the "Granddad Bandit" on billboards across the country, saying he was connected to a string of robberies dating back to a 2008 holdup of a SunTrust Bank in downtown Richmond. U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride in the Eastern District of Virginia credited the billboards with helping catch Mara.
According to an FBI affidavit filed Friday in federal court in Virginia, the FBI received a tip last week from someone who identified Mara as the robber and gave authorities photographs to match to bank surveillance videos.
