ST. GEORGE — The “Double Hat Bandit,” a suspect in more than 14 bank robberies, including four in Utah, was arrested Thursday by an FBI task force in Whiteland, Indiana.
The Indianapolis FBI Violent Crimes Task Force took 54-year-old Shayne Carson into custody in a motel parking lot without incident, according to a statement issued Friday by Sandra Barker, public affairs specialist for the agency’s Salt Lake City Division.
Authorities said Carson is responsible for bank robberies that occurred in branches located inside grocery stores across Utah, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Idaho between Dec. 19, 2016, and July 22, 2017, according to an earlier statement issued by the FBI. He was dubbed the Double Hat Bandit because he wore two hats during the robberies.
Read more: FBI offers $10,000 for info leading to arrest of ‘Double Hat Bandit.’
A criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City says that Carson has been charged with the Dec. 19, 2016, armed robbery of the U.S. Bank in West Valley City. He is also a suspect in two robberies in West Jordan – both on Dec. 27, 2016 – and one in Salt Lake City on June 21, 2017.
Twice he hit two banks on the same day. He would typically show the teller a note and, during four of the robberies, displayed a small handgun in his waistband, according to the FBI.
Overall, he is alleged to have committed 14 robberies, but authorities said they are investigating additional robberies in Colorado, Iowa and Ohio that they suspect he may have committed.
Carson was arraigned Friday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, and authorities anticipate he will be transferred to Utah to face additional charges filed in Salt Lake City.
During its investigation, the FBI located a Facebook account under the name of “Shayne Carson,” where photos posted on the account matched surveillance images captured during the bank robberies, according to the complaint.
Court records also show that Carson provided a telephone number in January during an arrest in Salem, Oregon, for driving under the influence of intoxicants, a number that was included in the police report obtained by the FBI at the end of August. Phone records show that many calls were made from the same areas where multiple bank robberies were reported, the complaint said.
On Sept. 1, agents contacted Carson’s parole officer and discovered that he was extradited to Texas from Oregon after his DUI arrest for violating his parole and was in custody in May. He became a fugitive in June when he walked away from a halfway house. There were no bank robberies committed during that period he was in custody, according to the complaint.
“The FBI would like to thank our law enforcement partners in Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Iowa and Ohio who worked this case,” Barker said.
The Indianapolis FBI Violent Crime Task Force includes members from the FBI, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Carmel Police Department and Fishers Police Department.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact. This report is based on statements from police or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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O.K., where’s my 10K ? I identified him back in August.