SAN DIEGO – A local robber who favored high fashion while he robbed nine credit unions and banks over 14 months will serve more than four years behind bars.
Thirty-year-old Anthony Burgess, dubbed the “Well-Dressed Bandit” because he sometimes wore a suit jacket and tie and a dapper hat during the series of robberies that hit four local credit unions, was ordered to pay $48,024 in restitution.
Among the heists were a Feb. 11, 2011, incident at Point Loma CU, when he got away with $8,812; a April 6, 2011, robbery at Mission FCU when he got $7,733; a June 17, 2011, holdup at Point Loma CU when he made off with 45,506; and, an Aug. 2, 2011, heist at Mission FCU when he got $4,191.
During most of the heists, Burgess confronted tellers with his right hand held stiffly inside his jacket, as if he were clutching a pistol, qualifying the holdups as armed robberies.
Burgess was identified during the ninth robbery, when an off-duty police officer watched him flee to a nearby parking garage and get into a black Mercedes-Benz. The witness was able to write down the license plate for that vehicle, which was registered to Burgess, and provided it to investigators. He was not charged in a 10th heist police believe he was responsible for because of lack of evidence.
Fingerprints found at the scene of two of the robberies matched those of Burgess, and surveillance photographs linked him to the other robberies, prosecutors said.
