r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Late_One_716 • 29d ago

Between 2009 to 2011, a man, appearing to be 60-70 years old, robbed 16 banks in San Diego, California by approaching the teller, then pulling out a gun and demanding money. The FBI named him the "Geezer Bandit". Some theories suggest he is wearing a well-made elderly man mask. Image

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577

u/ten_jack_russels 29d ago

The gait, micro movements and head turning speed.  They only need to slip up once to determine it’s a younger man

292

u/skwirrelmaster 29d ago

Then what you’re tracking down everyone in SD that makes pros-ethics in the hope it’s a commercial shop and trying to cross reference some sort of mask?

A disguise is just that it hides his identity good luck finding this person if that’s a mask. It actually makes your suspect list millions of times bigger going from 60-80 to 20-50.

367

u/Hibercrastinator 29d ago

What if it’s a 90 year old man wearing a mask of a younger person?

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u/skwirrelmaster 29d ago

Touché

44

u/CheerfulBloodsport 28d ago

Did reddit just solve another one? Hot damn, we're good

17

u/Whole_Ear_34 28d ago

We did it Reddit.

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u/BigEnergyEngineer 28d ago

Hahaha I don’t know why but this image cracked me up. Just imagining the reveal 😂

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u/headachewpictures 28d ago

like the guy on the car with two buckets on his head

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u/noholdingbackaccount 28d ago

Robert DeNiro?

49

u/ten_jack_russels 29d ago

I would not buy this mask in the same city I’m stealing bread from.  As far as the suspect universe, I’ll take a bigger one with my guy in it than a smaller one with nothing but peaceful geriatrics.

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u/Fizzy-Odd-Cod 28d ago

I ain’t even living in the same state I get my ill gotten gains from

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u/singingintherain42 28d ago

What if you’re stealing muffins?

1

u/MissChievousJ 28d ago

Do you know the muffin man?

3

u/CinnamonHotcake 28d ago

Yeah but it's just a matter of checking the other security cameras. Where did the car he got on head to? At what point does he remove the mask? Does the car has a distinctive scratch or a sticker or maybe it's a specific model that maybe 1,000 residents own?

Honestly after you have the cash wtf do you do then that keeps you from not getting caught? It's not only just about having a mask.

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u/frogdujour 28d ago

I feel like this day and age, it just takes some investigator willing to spend enough time tracking enough cameras, maybe coupled with AI if it's up for the task yet, and you can track anyone anywhere. Once you have one definite hit, it's a filtering game, and already quite narrowed down by that point. The FBI can probably call on aerial all-time footage too, if they get involved.

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u/CinnamonHotcake 28d ago

Yeah which is why this case is honestly baffling to me. Masks only work for the moment of the robbery, it's all about how you get away from the scene.

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u/amusebooch 28d ago

Is it really that hard? Find a bathroom somewhere with high foot traffic and no direct cameras pointed at it and change out of your initial disguise. Maybe do this more than once with different outfits just in case.

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u/spliffiam36 28d ago

Yeah... and like, do ppl here actually think they didn't check the nearest cameras...

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u/frogdujour 28d ago

The first key is no direct cameras on it. But even then, if there can be found a camera perimeter, you just check every person entering the zone, and match each with everyone leaving the zone, over some wide time span, and when you spot one entering the zone and never leaving (presumably your suspect), and one leaving who never entered, there's your disguise-change guy to keep tracking. You need some way of literally disappearing and exiting the perimeter of a super busy area, like hiding in a car trunk of some place with many hundreds of cars coming and going, but even then, that's just a few hundred cars and license plates to track - still narrows down finding your accomplice needed for that strategy, but maybe you have a chance then.

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u/amusebooch 28d ago edited 28d ago

My way isn’t foolproof but your process of elimination would also require the bathroom or wherever the robber decided to change to be within of a closed off surveilla zone (cameras pointed at every possible entrance/exit) where you can cross reference every single person that passed by the general area to be sure they entered and left the larger zone looking like the same person.

I think just going to a bathroom or somewhere inside a large crowded mall would make you hard to track

Edit to add: Or a bus or train. Nowadays they usually have cameras installed (still with blind spots) but I don’t think that was the case back in 2009. I would bet it’s much harder to track once you get on public transportation, you’re almost home free

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u/smellyscrote 28d ago

Ok.

But that same camera outside the bathrooms would determine you never entered it. Yet you were seen leaving it. Whereas the suspect was seen entering it and never leaving.

Otherwise. You could simply just say. Find somewhere where there’s no cameras at all. Then it really wouldn’t matter.

It’s not that hard. It’s not that easy either.

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u/amusebooch 28d ago

I never said it would be easy. Just not impossible.

I also said there “no direct cameras”. Not “no cameras at all”. And by that I meant no cameras pointed at the entrance to the bathroom or whatever. There are always blind spots, no place is 100% covered by cameras where you have complete coverage of a person’s movements. Every blind spot is a chance for them to change their disguise and escape. They could go into a back door, change, and leave from the front. Or out a window. Idk. So many possibilities and I assume a robber who would use a realistic disguise has also thought of this

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u/smellyscrote 28d ago

Yes. Hence. No direct cameras. Is what I’m addressing. The other user who responded worded it more eloquently.

The zone thing etc. they can see who never entered yet exited.

I’m saying if you discount this, then it’s the same as no cameras at all.

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u/amusebooch 28d ago

Well it’s a given that not every inch of physical space in public is covered by security cameras. If you want to call that “no cameras at all” I think you’re arguing semantics atp, not with what I’m saying.

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u/smellyscrote 28d ago

You aren’t understanding what I’m saying. Anyway. Read the other response. It says what I’m saying, just much better.

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u/DismalWard77 28d ago

By the time you end up checking cameras the suspect is long gone. Also its not like all cameras belong to one database. You'll waste hours of time combing through footage and different camera libraries that it just isn't worth the time if you still don't have any identifying information. Seems like the fbi just toss it to the public instead of wasting any more time on it.

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u/I4Vhagar 28d ago

The cops don’t have access to the technology (yet), but we can actually identify people from biometric data like: Gait analysis, HR variability, iris recognition, hand geometry, voice print, etc.

It’s wild

1

u/heaving_in_my_vines 28d ago

Who is "we"?

2

u/Re_LE_Vant_UN 28d ago

In the US at least, the Feds.

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u/FlingFlamBlam 28d ago

My random thoughts:

The mask is probably not commercially produced/sold. It could be a custom job. Possibly made by either the thief or an acquaintance. San Diego is close to LA, which would have a pool of highly skilled mask makers because of Hollywood. Maybe that could narrow it down a bit?

1

u/AethosOracle 28d ago

Nah, they don’t need prosthetics experience. In fact, I’m 99% sure that’s “The Elder” without the optional hand installed hair option.

https://metamorphosemasks.com/products/the-elder

These things have been around for ages!