FBI Collars Pink Polka Dot Dress Bank Robber

SEPTEMBER 9--A 50-year-old man wore a “pink with purple polka dots dress, a pink wig, and sunglasses” during a bank robbery that briefly netted him $1537, according to the FBI.

Agents charge that Arnell Edwards walked into a U.S. Bank branch in New Athens, Illinois Friday morning and approached a teller. With a white rag over his mouth, Edwards allegedly handed the bank employee a Post-It note reading, “STICK UP ALL MONEY.” 

The teller told FBI agents that the robber tried to disguise his true voice by speaking in a “high pitched squeaky voice.” Though it was difficult to decipher what the robber was saying through his white rag, the teller reported hearing “Give me all the money.”

Noting that she was scared, the female teller removed bills from her cash drawer and placed them on the counter. “The black male wearing the pink with purple polka dot dressed picked up the United States currency with his right hand, turned and walked away,” reported FBI Agent Daniel Cook in a criminal complaint.

The robber in the above-the-knee dress is seen above in a bank surveillance photo. Edwards is pictured below in a photo from his Facebook page.

Following a 45-minute standoff, Edwards was subsequently arrested at the nearby apartment of a female friend. Investigators recovered a pink wig and a pink dress in the vicinity of the bank branch.

Edwards, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, denied robbing the bank, claiming he was asleep in his friend’s residence when the crime occurred. Agent Cook reported spotting abrasions on Edwards’s right hand and right wrist that matched injuries seen on the bank robber in surveillance photos.

Additionally, a pad of red Post-It notes found inside the apartment of Edwards’s friend was consistent with the “STICK UP ALL MONEY” note handed over by the bank robber.

Charged in U.S. District Court with bank robbery, Edwards faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of the felony count. (7 pages)