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Feds identify fake-bearded Fedora Bandit

Liz Kellar
Sun News Service
Courtesy imageThe Fake-bearded Fedora Bandit is shown at a Bank of the West in Gridley, Calif. Kings Beach and Grass Valley.
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GRASS VALEY, Calif. and#8212; The FBI has fingered a 74-year-old Nevada man as the and#8220;Fedora Banditand#8221; responsible for robbing a number of banks in the region in late 2009 and early 2010, including hitting the Bank of the West branch in Kings Beach.

An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Mound House resident David Griffith Osborne, who wasn’t hard to locate. He has been serving a three-year federal sentence in Lompoc since October on drug trafficking charges, after being stopped in a motor home in Kansas in December 2010 with more than 40 pounds of cocaine and more than 160 pounds of marijuana.

Osborne also has a prior federal conviction dating back to 1992, when he was arrested in California for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.



No date has been set for his appearance in federal court in Sacramento yet on the bank robbery charges, said U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Lauren Horwood. The arrest warrant lists seven counts of armed bank robbery, two of which are for the Grass Valley heists.

and#8220;The Grass Valley Police Department is pleased to learn of the issuance of a complaint … seeking David Griffith Osborne’s accountability for his involvement in a series of bank robberies occurring in 2009 and 2010 across Northern California and Nevada,and#8221; said Police Capt. Rex Marks in a prepared statement. and#8220;This announcement will serve in the process of bringing closure to the many involved persons who were both directly and indirectly affected by these violent crimes. More importantly, it is our hope that this action also aides in sustaining the public’s faith in the criminal justice system to hold criminal offenders responsible for their actions.and#8221;



Osborne has been formally linked to bank robberies between December 2009 and June 2010 that allegedly netted him nearly $56,000, according to an arrest warrant by FBI Special Agent Andrew Forristel.

Osborne allegedly hit a branch of Bank of the West in Grass Valley twice, in December 2009 and March 2010. He is believed to have robbed at least six banks since December 2009, including banks in Gridley, Calif., Carson City, South Lake Tahoe and Kings Beach.

The bank robber, described as a nattily dressed man, robbed the Taylorville Road bank in Grass Valley on Dec. 22, 2009, displaying a handgun and making off with more than $12,000.

The robber entered the bank, walked up to a teller and demanded money, then pulled aside his jacket to display a black-handled handgun in the waistband of his pants. The teller complied with his demand and no one was injured.

The bank robber was described as a white man, dressed in baggy brown trousers, tan shirt, tan waist-length jacket, green scarf and light tan fedora-style hat.

The alleged serial bank robber hit the same Taylorville Road branch on March 31, 2010, displaying a handgun and demanding money.

According to the arrest warrant, Osborne walked up to a teller, removed a gun from his bag and said, and#8220;Here we go again.and#8221; He allegedly told the teller to give him the money from both drawers and was given nearly $3,500 in cash.


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