Band-Aid Bandit Busted John Burnett, Associate Editor
A July 13, 2006, robbery of the Fifth Third Bank in Pinellas Park, Florida, appears to be the last of a long series of armed bank robberies linked to the so-called "Band-Aid Bandit." One week later, a joint federal-state-local task force announced the arrest of Rafael Rondon and his alleged accomplice, Emeregildo Roman. The pair have now been charged in federal court for bank robbery and weapons violations in connection with the Fifth Third incident and three others. They face 20 years in prison on the robbery charges, and an additional 57 years for the firearms violations, if convicted on all counts.
According to the Band-Aid Bandit Task Force, Rondon and Roman are also suspects in a series of nearly 40 armed bank robberies stretching back to 2000 that involved the theft of over $700,000 in cash (the July Pinellas Park robbery alone reportedly yielded over $200,000). The task force was formed in 2003 to coordinate the investigation of the apparently-related holdups that plagued central and southwest Florida. In each of these heists, the robber wore a small bandage on his left cheek, perhaps to hide a mole. The pair could face charges on the earlier incidents as the investigation continues.
The string of robberies reportedly netted an average of about $18,000 per bank, almost four times the most recent average for U.S. bank robberies reported by the FBI.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced in January 2006 that it was doubling its reward for information leading to the arrest of the Band-Aid Bandit to $50,000. To date, there has been no mention of any reward payment in connection with the arrests.
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