Hump Day Dumbass of the Day

Bank robber gives teller her name, address
April 14, 2008 - 11:31PM
The Monitor

McALLEN - A woman accused of robbing two banks this month gave investigators a vital clue to her identity Monday, when she passed a threatening note to a teller with her name and address on the back.

Investigators believe Maria Garcia, 33, scrawled the hold-up message on the back of a completed food stamp application moments before entering the Capital One Bank branch in downtown McAllen and making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Officers arrested her less than two hours later by tracking her to the address on the form. They also linked her to a similar robbery earlier this month at a Capital One bank in Mission.

Police have not yet disclosed the contents of the note Garcia used to hold up the McAllen bank on Monday. But they said she entered the location, near the intersection of South Main Street and Erie Avenue, just before 10 a.m. without a weapon.

Once the tellers handed over the cash, Garcia stepped outside but didn't get far before an ink pack embedded in the money exploded, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said.

Banks often package large amounts of cash with the stain-making devices as a security precaution. Evidence of the exploded pack remained on the bank's outside wall hours after the robbery.

"That stain's going to be with her for a long time," Rodriguez said. "That ink is pretty powerful."

The circumstances of Monday's robbery are similar to the April 1 hold-up in Mission of which Garcia is also accused. In that case, the robber entered the Capital One on South Shary Road, gave the teller a note and fled before police arrived at the scene.

Within a week of that robbery, investigators had tracked the suspect to the San Juan home but were still conducting surveillance on the house at the time of Monday's robbery, Mission police Chief Leo Longoria said.

"Our detectives came over after hearing about the bank robbery in McAllen and sat on the house," he said.

They arrived Monday to find Garcia and an alleged accomplice - Ricardo Cavazos, 32 - trying to remove the license plates of a green Ford Expedition that police identified as their getaway vehicle.

A search of the SUV uncovered ink-stained clothing and money believed to have been taken from the McAllen bank, Longoria said. The money from the Mission robbery had not been recovered as of Monday afternoon.

Officers from Mission, McAllen and San Juan surrounded the home for several hours as family members hovered behind police lines looking alternately concerned and confused.

It wasn't the first time authorities had responded to the house near the intersection of Business 83 and Standard Avenue, said San Juan police investigator Rolando Garcia, who is not related to the accused bank robber.

Police had been called to the residence for child custody disputes and Maria Garcia's mother had filed a report with the department identifying her daughter as mentally challenged.

As of Monday evening, both Maria Garcia and Cavazos remained in the Mission city jail pending an arraignment hearing scheduled for today.

Both were set to face charges of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life imprisonment and up to $10,000 in fines.

After they are processed in Mission, they are expected to face charges in McAllen in connection with Monday's robbery.