If You're Gonna Rob A Bank...Dress Appropriately

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SuspectCouldn’t Give Cops The Slip

Officers say man wearing flowered dress was arrested after bank heist

South Carolina - It was hard to miss the person who sauntered into the Wachovia bank Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn’t so much the gaudy black dress with the gigantic red flowers that caught everyone’s attention.

It wasn’t even the red straw hat perched atop a headful of copper-colored curls.

It was the little black mustache.

That was how police described 49-year-old Booker Boyd, who they said demanded money and fled the bank at 10136 Two Notch Road.

Boyd, who also wore slinky black sandals with heels, then led police on a brief chase in a Ford Expedition stolen from Lexington County, Richland County sheriff’s Lt. Chris Cowan said.

The chase ended on Atrium Way off Two Notch Road after Boyd was caught near a wooded area at a dead-end road, he said. Boyd was not wearing his reddish-brown wig when arrested, Cowan said.

The Irmo man was charged with two counts of entering a bank with intent to steal, Richland County sheriff’s Lt. Chris Cowan said. He did not have a weapon.

The second count stemmed from a holdup last week at the AllSouth Federal Credit Union on Dutch Plaza Boulevard. And Forest Acres police might charge him in connection with a bank robbery Tuesday, Cowan said.

No one was reported injured in any of the attempted heists.

Boyd, who was still being questioned late Wednesday by sheriff’s investigators, would not be allowed to wear his ensemble to jail, Cowan said. The dress and accessories would be placed in the evidence room while Boyd donned a more low-key outfit, he said.

The robber saved the flashy outfit for the Wachovia jaunt, keeping his attire a bit less conspicuous during the first two holdups, police said.

“Criminals often try to disguise their appearance to elude capture,” Cowan said.

As to why he decided to drag out the feminine duds on Wednesday, it’s hard to say, said Tom O’Neill, spokesman for the FBI’s Columbia office.

“We don’t speculate on what motivates these people — or their choice of wardrobe.”