Alleged 'Bad Hair Bandit' Arrested

AUBURN, Calif. (CBS13) -- A woman who was arrested after allegedly robbing an Auburn bank is believed to be responsible for a string of 18 robberies in the past nine months.

The Placer County Sheriff's Department said they arrested Cynthia Van Holland and 26-year-old Christopher Alonzo as they drove away from their robbery of the Bank of the West on the 13000 block of Lincoln Way on Monday afternoon.

Van Holland allegedly entered the bank just before 2:30 p.m. and handed an employee a note that claimed she was armed and wanted money. An alert witness spotted the woman fleeing the bank and reported the getaway vehicle's description and license plate to authorities, who quickly found the suspects on Interstate 80 a few minutes later.

Both suspects were arrested without incident.

Placer County authorities said surveillance photos from the FBI led them to believe that Van Holland is the woman pictured in a series of robberies in Washington, Oregon and Montana since December 2010. Due to the different ill-fitting wigs the female suspect wore in those robberies, the FBI dubbed her the "Bad Hair Bandit."

The FBI is now investigating Van Holland's involvement in the other bank robberies in conjunction with Placer County deputies.