Free the Costumed Bandit

In our opinion, criminals whose activities are adequately clever, inventive and amusing should be rewarded for their contributions to making the world a more interesting place. Further to this notion, today's Washington Post reports:

Two Washington area banks turned over more than $850,000 in less than 24 hours this week to someone who impersonated a cash courier and claimed to be filling in for the regular guys.

On Wednesday, a man dressed as an armored truck employee with the company AT Systems walked into a BB&T bank in Wheaton about 11 a.m., was handed more than $500,000 in cash and walked out, a source familiar with the case said.

It wasn't until the actual AT Systems employees arrived at the bank, at 11501 Georgia Ave., the next day that bank officials realized they'd been had. "When the real security guards showed up is when it became known," said Richard Wolf, a spokesman with the FBI's Baltimore division.

Montgomery County police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said: "The bank employees knew this was not an individual they had dealt with before. The explanation that was provided was that he was a substitute for the regular courier, who was on leave."

And on Thursday, about 9:30 a.m., a man dressed as an employee of the security company Brink's walked into a Wachovia branch in downtown Washington and walked out with more than $350,000.

The man had a badge and a gun holster on his belt, said Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office. He told officials at the bank, at 801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, that he was filling in for the regular courier.

About 4 p.m., when the real guard showed up, a bank official told him that someone had picked up the cash, D.C. police said. The guard returned to his office and told a supervisor that he did not make the pickup at the bank. The supervisor called a Wachovia manager, who in turn notified authorities. Police were called nearly 11 hours after the heist.

"It's just an incredibly brazen act," Weierman said.

A law enforcement source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said last night that investigators were reviewing surveillance video from the banks in an effort to identify the robber and determine whether the same man committed both heists.

Officials at each bank and with law enforcement declined to describe the security protocols that cash couriers follow. Authorities are investigating whether any rules were violated.

It seems to us that any description of "the security protocols that cash couriers" followed in this instance would not consume a very great amount of time.

Bravo, gentlemen! Bravo!