Tips Pour In For Cell Phone Bandit
Woman Has Robbed Four Banks In Va. While Chatting On A Cell Phone
-
Play CBS Video Video Cell Phone Bandit On Tape Police in northern Virginia are looking for a woman who's held up banks while talking on her cell phone. In three of the robberies, she used a phone and showed the teller a box with a holdup note.
-
Video Cell Thief It's a common sight: Someone yakking on a cell phone while doing something else at the same time. But now, a woman is talking on her phone while robbing banks, Jim Stewart reports.
-
Video images provided by the Fairfax County, Va., Police Department show a woman talking on a cell phone in Northern Virginia banks. Police say she robbed four banks in the area while chatting on her phone. (AP/Fairfax Co. Police Dept.)
-
Interactive FBI Crime Statistics Explore the latest information on U.S. crime, from acts of violence to property damage.
-
Photo Essay High-Tech Gadgets See what was new at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
In northern Virginia the police say they're looking for a woman who's been holding up banks while chatting on her phone.
"This is the first time that I can recall where we've had a crime committed while the person was using a cell phone," Loudoun County sheriff's spokesman Kraig Troxell told The Washington Post in a story published Friday. "The question would be whether anyone is on the other end of the line or not."
Investigators believe the woman has hit four Wachovia bank branches in recent weeks in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.
In three of those bank jobs, she was talking on a cell phone, while showing the teller a box with a holdup note attached to it. In the most recent holdup, on Nov. 4, in Ashburn, the robber showed the teller a gun.
CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports that all she ever says on the phone is "uh, huh" and "okay," so she may be talking to a lookout outside the bank. Or she may just be pretending to talk to someone.
"We don't find this amusing at all, especially with this last one when she displayed a gun," Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen Simpson told Stewart. "That could get her killed."
The woman is described as well-spoken, with a slight Hispanic accent.
Investigators won't speculate on why she's chosen only Wachovia branches. But as Stewart reports, the video played across the country today and tips are pouring in.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gen. Ray Odierno, head of multinational forces in Iraq, on progress there and plans for Afghanistan.




