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Cops: Serial Bank Robber Failed Latest Attempt

Posted: 5:44 pm EST November 20, 2009Updated: 6:31 pm EST November 20, 2009

A serial bank robber may have struck again in Orlando, but this time he failed. He tried to hold up a College Park Credit Union, off Edgewater Drive, but didn't get a dime. Police think the man robbed three other banks around Orlando. The Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriffs Office are working together to find the crook.

This time, the man walked in the credit union with what looked like a legal pad. He handed the teller a note asking for some money, but left without a penny because something seemed to have scared the crook and he ran away.

Cheryl Patiry works in the spa next-door. She's still shaken by all the deputies who swarmed the bank around 10:30am Friday.

“This is too close, too close. We saw police, with a dog, a German shepherd walking by here looking for someone," she said.

The man is believed to be between 30 and 40 years old. He walked in the place with a heavy coat and glasses on.

"After he presented the note he fled the bank. That's basically it," Cpl. Tim Farmer of the Orange County Sheriffs Office said.

Something spooked the suspect before the teller could give him a penny.

Investigators think Friday’s robbery suspect could be to blame for at least four robberies. The downtown SunTrust hit in October, the Regions and SunTrust bank robberies that happened one mile apart from each other on November 13th and the credit union's attempted heist.

Even though the suspect left empty handed, Jill Berry's still concerned about her safety.

"It's the fact that they are doing it now. It seems like more and more robberies are happening," Berry said.

Bishop Moore High School and Edgewater High School were put on lockdown as deputies searched for the man, but have since reopened. Out of the four robberies investigators say he claimed to have a weapon twice.
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