YORK REGIONAL POLICE
York Regional Police need help identifying this man in connection a series of bank robberies including four at the same Whitchurch-Stouffville bank.
Whitchurch-Stouffville
January 21, 2009 05:04 PM
Joe Fantauzzi, Staff Writer
Now it’s personal.
A bank robber believed to have targeted Whitchurch-Stouffville banks, four times in two years, has raised the ire of York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge.
The police know this: the man they are after has a collection of hats and sported a beard while robbing six banks in 21 months.
Police released images of the bandit during a press conference in Markham yesterday, hoping someone will come forward to reveal his identity.
The Canadian Bankers Association and Central 1 Credit Union offered more incentive by issuing a $10,000 reward for anyone who provides information that could lead to his arrest and conviction.
Police believe he has struck four times in York Region, each time in Whitchurch-Stouffville, once in Oshawa and once in Belleville.
“The message I would have is that we are going to leave no stone unturned in trying to identify who this individual is,” Chief La Barge said. “The residents of Stouffville ... I would just say, thank you for being patient and co-operative.”
However, the suspect is leaving evidence behind with each robbery, including security camera photos and DNA, police said.
“Obviously, his DNA is not in the DNA database and his fingerprints are not on file. So, we are dealing with somebody that does not appear to have come into contact with our criminal justice system before, but that does not mean he has not committed criminal offences, it is just he has not been caught. We are hopefully going to turn the tide on that,” Chief La Barge said.
The first heist in York took place May 15, 2006 when he walked into the Bank of Nova Scotia at 6233 Main St. in Stouffville at about 3:30 p.m. He walked to the counter, showed the teller a note saying he wanted cash and was armed with a gun, police said. After getting the money, he ran off.
On June 30, 2006 he returned to Stouffville’s downtown and walked into the Pace Credit Union at 6245 Main St. He showed the teller a note, saying he wanted cash and was armed with a gun. Again, a bank employee turned over some money and he fled.
He returned to the same Pace Credit Union on Dec. 14, 2006, showed the note and took the cash. During that incident, however, he jumped into a green minivan and sped off.
On Jan. 8, 2008, the man again walked into the Pace Credit Union. After a note was flashed, the teller told the man she could not open her till and that the panic alarm had been tripped. The man ran off through a back door.
On Jan. 19, 2008, a TD Bank in Oshawa was robbed by a note-carrying suspect. On Feb. 13, 2008, a Scotiabank in Belleville was the target of a man who had written a note declaring he wanted money and was armed with a gun.
Police linked the man dubbed the Pace Bandit to those hold-ups as well. Investigators believe he has been inactive since the Belleville robbery.
No weapon has been seen during any of the heists, police said.
Despite security camera footage released to the public since the man began his crime spree, he has eluded police.
“To date, we have followed up 16 leads on individuals from tips and information from our fellow investigators,” Det.-Sgt. Bob Wassink said. “All 16 have been eliminated.”
Robberies are very personal crimes, William Crate, security director for the Canadian Bankers Association said.
“The money stolen is not our primary concern but what is often overlooked is there are innocent people involved when a robbery is committed and those are our branch staff and our customers,” he said.
“While the majority of financial institution robberies in Canada are committed by note-passers, they have the potential to be volatile situations. Branch staff have no idea who they are dealing with or what the robber is capable of.”
Police now share a wide range of resources in cases where crimes are committed in different municipalities, Chief La Barge said.
“The ability of a criminal to escape detection by moving from one jurisdiction to the other is lessened now because of things like major case management but also because of things like the central DNA database (and) a good fingerprint system that we have here in Ontario and in Canada, too,” the chief said.
If you have any information about the man responsible for these six robberies, call police at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 6630, Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-TIPS, leave a tip at www.1800222tips.com or text: TIPYORK and your message to CRIMES (274637)