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Michael Francis Mara, Reputed 'Granddad Bandit,' Busted After 25 Bank Robberies

By Pete Kotz in robbery
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 11:46 am
Michael-Mara_opt.jpg
​His series of bank robberies were both calm and brazen. Without a mask and doing little to conceal his identity, he'd walk into a bank, often patiently wait in line, then hand a teller a note, collect his money, and quietly walk away...

Michael-Mara-collage.jpg
Through 25 robberies, Michael Mara did little to conceal his identity, yet managed to keep holding up banks over a 2-year period
​He'd done this 25 times since 2008, robbing banks in 13 states from Virginia to Kansas. And while the FBI had wonderful surveillance photos of his robberies, even placing billboards around the country, no seemed to know who the "Granddad Bandit" was.

That ended yesterday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It seems a tipster identified 52-year-old Michael Francis Mara as the culprit. After a 6-hour standoff in which Mara refused to come out of his home, he finally relented and was taken into custody.

Mara had the ideal job for being a roaming bank robber. He worked for a transportation company that took him around the country. While he's only been charged with one count of robbery so far, the counts will likely balloon as prosecutors sharpen their pencils.

See our last tale of aging bank robbers: Peter Lawrence, 71 and Wheelchair-Bound, Robs Bank to Get Prison Health Care.

Tags: Louisiana, The Savvy Criminal

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