A U.S. man who was sentenced to a long prison term for robbing five banks while disguised as an elderly person has been arrested again on charges of holding up banks using the same method. Convicted and imprisoned for the earlier robberies, he again wore an old-man mask to seize cash, and investigators recovered masks and disguise materials from his home and other locations.
David Satin Jr., 40, a resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, was arrested as a suspect in two bank robberies that occurred this year, the New York Post reported on the 21st.
According to federal prosecutors, Satin is accused of taking cash from a bank in Largo, Florida, on Aug. 24 and from another bank in St. Petersburg on Sept. 15. In both cases, investigators found, he approached a teller wearing a special mask molded to resemble an elderly man's face and demanded cash without dye packs. Dye packs are devices that stain bills with dye after a set period, helping investigators track robberies.
Approached Bank by Bicycle and Repainted Car Roof
In the first robbery, Satin parked his car at a gas station near the bank and switched to a bicycle to approach the branch, investigators determined. After taking $2,900 (about 3.84 million won) from the bank, he left the scene saying, "Until we meet again." He then fled by bicycle before switching back to his own car, according to the account.
In the second robbery, he is accused of taking $2,554 (about 3.38 million won). While tracking vehicles that came and went from Satin's home around the time of the incidents, investigators also observed him painting his car's white roof black the day after the robbery. The move is suspected to have been an attempt to alter the appearance of the vehicle used in the crime to evade the investigation.
Investigators searched Satin's home and a storage unit and secured a bicycle, a suit and a black bag believed to have been used in the robberies. In the storage unit, they also found an old-man face mask, black-rimmed glasses and work gloves stained with black paint. A fake handgun and clothing similar to items captured on closed-circuit television during the robberies were also recovered, according to the report.
At another residence, investigators found an additional special mask and a diary written in 2021. The diary contained the phrase: "God's best friend is a bank robber! The world of cops and robbers seen through the eyes of a bank robber," according to the report.
Satin was convicted in federal court in 2018 on charges of robbing five banks in Texas in 2016. In those robberies, he also wore an old-man mask, and he was sentenced to slightly more than 10 years in prison.