The hunt is on for a man who has robbed several banks in the last few weeks, often ending his crime with a nice thought – “Thank you and God bless.”

Wednesday morning, he struck again, pulling off his tenth bank robbery in Las Vegas Valley since September. Police say he’s even robbed one bank twice.

The bandit hit again Wednesday at the Washington Mutual branch on Maryland Parkway and Sahara. Police say he waited in line and fled with money. Metro and the FBI are desperate to catch this repeat robber.

“He’ll wait in line — he’ll wait until he approaches a teller, and he will either present a note or he will tell them that he wants the cash out of the drawer. And on some occasions, he’s even threatened that he may have a weapon,” said Metro Robbery Lt. Clint Nichols.

Lt. Nichols says the man has been linked to 10 bank robberies in the valley, including two in North Las Vegas. His string of crimes started in late September when he hit the Community Bank of Nevada near I-215 and Russell. The robber’s next heist was three days later at Nevada State Bank on Rancho near Craig.

In late October, he pulled off a job at a Wamu on Rainbow near Sahara. The so-called Cordial Crook returned two months later to the same bank to steal more money. In the latest theft, he got his money and told the teller, “Thank you and God bless you.”

Police fear he may not be this friendly next time, “What typically happens is they start to get comfortable with what they’re doing, and the level of violence will escalate.”

Detectives don’t know if this it’s a bad economy that’s driving the man to rip off so many banks and make off with so much money. They want this robber on the run, caught on camera every time, to be arrested, cuffed and locked up.

The man is described as a black male in his mid-20’s to mid-30’s. He is between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 3 inches tall with a heavy build and bulging eyes. Police say he has a shaved head, a goatee, and walks with a limp.

Authorities say the same man is responsible for robbing the Washington Mutual on south Rainbow near Alta on October 28, 2008 and the US Bank on Charleston near Nellis on October 30, 2008.

He may be driving a light colored, four-door Chrysler. If you’ve seen him, call CrimeStoppers at 385-5555.

They think he may not be a local resident. Police have spread his photo around the valley and no one has called police. Last year, a serial bank robber used to fly into Las Vegas from Florida to commit his crimes. This one, police say, could be from out-of-state.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 9:44 pm and is filed under Robbery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.