Bad Hair Bandit robbed two Moses Lake banks

MOSES LAKE - The serial bank robber widely known as the "Bad Hair Bandit" was reportedly caught in August after holding up a California bank.

The Placer County Sheriff's office arrested Cynthia Van Holland, 47, for bank robbery in Auburn, Cal.

The arrest came shortly after a woman entered the Bank of the West and passed a note to a teller, demanding money and stating she was armed, according to the FBI.

The woman was given an undetermined amount of money and left the bank.

Placer County Sheriff's Office arrested Van Holland and her alleged getaway driver, Christopher Alonzo, 26, about 12 miles from the bank when their vehicle and license plate matched a witness description, the FBI report stated.

Investigators on the FBI Safe Streets Task Forces believes Van Holland is the same person monikered "Bad Hair Bandit," a woman responsible for robbing or attempting to rob at least 20 banks throughout Washington, Oregon, Montana, and California.

The Bad Hair Bandit is credited with robbing two Moses Lake banks in the spring - Key Bank in April and Sterling Bank in early June. The Moses Lake Key Bank was the twelfth bank robbed by the suspect and Sterling Savings the sixteenth.

The local robberies fit the woman's typical method of handing tellers a note saying she was armed and demanding money. After receiving the cash she would take back the note, walk out of the bank and escape, according to witnesses.

The robber is known as the Bad Hair Bandit for wearing wigs in a series of hold-ups beginning in Dec. 2010 in the Tacoma area.

She has been described as standing about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, is white and heavyset, and usually wore a hooded sweatshirt and glasses, sometimes a billed cap.

Personnel in the FBI Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City and Sacramento divisions, collaborated with several local law enforcement agencies in the investigation, the FBI report stated.