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Multiple bank robberies in Cleveland, authorities wonder if there is a connection

Could there be a connection?
Posted at 8:18 PM, Aug 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-04 20:18:53-04

The FBI is looking for some suspected bank robbers in northeast Ohio... but could there be a connection?
They're definitely not ruling it out. They’ve been busy connecting the dots and chasing down leads, but need your help to identify the suspects.

“Somebody out there knows these individuals they’ve recognized their clothing, they know their mannerisms,” said Vicki Anderson, Special Agent for the FBI.

On two separate occasions this month, two female bank robbers, who investigators think might be the same woman have robbed two different banks.

“They have similar characteristics, both petite black females,” Anderson said.

Each time, the woman passed a note to the teller using the same type of language.

“The suspect stated that if she didn’t comply two men with guns were going to come into the bank,” explained Chief Michael Rizzo with the South Russell Police Department where one of the banks were robbed.

Then, a week later, two men, suspected in two other bank robberies of their own, busted into the Huntington bank on E. 185th street with guns, one of the same locations the unarmed female suspect hit.

“It’s very unusual that a person goes and robs one bank and then they quit, if they’re not caught immediately,” said Anderson.

So is it a coincidence, or a connection?

“It could definitely possibly be the situation…it could be a group that are all operating together, again we have a few that are unsolved right now, our people are working on those to get them solved and get these guys into custody,” she said.

The FBI tells me the amount of bank robberies they’re seeing is actually quite unusual this time of year, they tend to see this frequency more in the winter, when suspects can be covered.

They’re urging anyone, with any information to come forward as soon as possible.