SACRAMENTO-
The FBI arrested a Bay Area they suspect to be the “Bad Beard Bandit” Thursday, according the bureau’s Sacramento office.
Gerardo Lopez, 28, was wanted in connection with eight northern California banks while wearing a “poor quality” fake beard. At each robbery, the man said he had a gun but no one ever actually reported seeing one.
Lopez’s alleged spree began Nov. 21 when investigators say he robbed a Bank of the West branch in Ripon. He then allegedly robbed a Chase Bank in Manteca on Nov. 26, a Chase Bank in Tracy on Dec. 3, a Chase Bank in Dublin on Dec. 4, a Citibank in Sunnyvale on Dec. 10, a Chase Bank in San Jose on Dec. 18, a Citibank in Turlock on Feb. 5 and a Citibank in Capitola on Feb. 25.
The FBI did not say where Lopez was arrested, but said they worked with law enforcement agencies in each city.