Pinellas Park Police Department
Press Release Update
July 20th, 2006

Band Aid Bandit Robbery
Fifth Third Bank Pinellas Park
Case# 2006-20820

Today at approximately 6:00 AM EST, the FDLE Band Aid Bandit Robbery Task Force took into custody Rafael Angel Rondon of Clermont, Florida, identifying him as the Band Aid Bandit.  He and an accomplice, Emeregildo Roman, were arraigned in federal court today at 4:00 PM for three bank robberies committed in 2005.  They were the Colonial Bank 6213 SR54 New Port Richey, the Mercantile Bank 3201 MacDill Av. Tampa, and the Wachovia Bank 14166 US19 Hudson, Florida.

Rafael Rondon is the key suspect in the Pinellas Park Fifth Third bank robbery, and although apprehended, has not been charged with this robbery yet.  Charges are forthcoming once Pinellas Park detectives and task force investigators have completed their interviews and collection of evidence.

Search warrants were executed on two homes this morning, including the primary residence of Rafael Rondon.  Many pieces of evidence were collected from these warrants which link Rafael Rondon to the Fifth Third bank robbery.

Rondon was initially identified as the suspect in this case on Friday, July 14th the day after the robbery.  Pinellas Park detectives gathered surveillance video evidence from the bank and from a neighboring business, Victor Distributing, scanned those images for vehicles described by witness statements looking for vehicle matches and suspicious patterns of vehicle movement.  Witnesses described a Brown Chevy Blazer SUV involved in the robbery.  Detectives located several images of a Chevy Blazer on the Victor Distributing surveillance video archive.  This vehicle was documented as being in the Victor Distributing parking lot on June 22, 2006 and again on July 5th, 2006.  Witness statements placed the vehicle in the general area on a number of other occasions.  Tag numbers recorded from the vehicle on surveillance video provided detectives with some addresses to investigate, ultimately leading them to Rafael Rondon's home address in Clermont. Surveillance confirmed the existence of a Brown Chevy Blazer parked in the garage of Rondon's home bearing the same tag caught on surveillance tape on June 22nd, 2006 when the vehicle was parked at Victor Distributing.

Now that Rondon is in custody, forensics have also been able to match known finger and palm prints of Rafael Rondon to several of the bank robbery crime scenes, including the July 13th, Fifth Third bank robbery in Pinellas Park.

As of 6:00 PM, Rafael Rondon and Emeregildo Roman have been booked into the Hillsborough County Jail on federal charges of Bank Robbery and brandishing firearms during the commission of a crime, carrying potential sentences of 20 to 57 years in federal prison.

Robbery charges for the Fifth Third bank of Pinellas Park are pending and forthcoming.

Auth: Capt. Sanfield Forseth                    ****July 20th, 2006****

Pinellas Park Police Department
Press release

Bank Robbery
2006-20820
7/13/2006

5/3rd Bank located at 11030 49th Street N Pinellas Park

At approximately 7:48 AM a lone male subject approached a bank employee at the door to the bank.  The employee unlocked the door to enter and the suspect forced his way into the bank as the bank employee tried to shut him out.  Inside the bank the suspect displayed a silver revolver and collected money.  Suspect then left the bank and according to witnesses outside, got into a brown SUV, possibly a late 90's or 2000 Chevy Blazer.  The vehicle was driven by a white female with blond hair, and left SB on 49th Street.

The amount of money stolen is not being disclosed at this time.  The bank employees inside the bank were not injured.  No shots were fired from the gun.  The bank was not open for business at the time of the robbery so there were no other customers inside.

The suspect is a white or Hispanic male, 5'8, 240 lbs, was wearing a black wig, had a bushy mustache, was wearing a dark blue button down short sleeve shirt with vertical gray stripes, gray pants, and brown shoes.

This suspect matches the description of the suspect involved in other Bay area robberies.

Capt S. A. Forseth
Pinellas Park Police
727-541-0792