The Pink Lady Bandit aka Circe Baez and her alleged accomplice, Alexis Morales arrested after pulling off string of bank robberies in the North East Coast.
A suspected serial bank robber dubbed the ‘Pink Lady Bandit’ due to a distinctive pink purse she carried during some of the heists has been busted, FBI officials said.
Circe Baez, 36, and her alleged accomplice, Alexis Morales, 38, were arrested Sunday at the Charlotte Speedway Inn & Suites in Charlotte, roughly 80 miles away from a bank in Hamlet, North Carolina, which FBI officials said they held up on Friday.
The bureau had been offering a $10,000 reward for help capturing Baez, who was wanted in a string of robberies at banks in Delaware, Pennsylvania and North Carolina beginning on July 20.
Morales was identified as Baez’s accomplice after the robbery in Hamlet, FBI officials said.
Baez walked into a bank in Ayden, North Carolina, on Wednesday and implied she had a gun to a teller before making off with an undisclosed sum of cash, according to an arrest warrant obtained by WITN.
In two of the robberies, Baez wore yoga pants, a tank top and a navy baseball hat while carrying the colorful pink handbag, according to an FBI wanted poster that featured three photos of the suspect.
The woman’s capture comes after Baez had robbed no less than four banks in one week.
Pink Lady Bandit and accomplice face series of charges:
Baez and Morales, both of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, have been charged with two robberies in North Carolina and are expected to face additional counts, perhaps in federal court, FBI officials said.
They remained in custody Tuesday at a detention center in North Carolina on $4 million bond each, jail records show.
The manager at the hotel where Baez and Morales were arrested told WCNC that the pair were worried about the safety of their dog just prior to being arrested.
‘They were kind of concerned about, ‘Oh, we have dogs in our room,’ so we don’t want any harm done to their dog,’ manager Omar Imam recalled. ‘[The officer] kind of gave them all the instruction, ‘Just come out with your hands up where I can see them.”
Some local authorities, meanwhile, poked fun at Baez’s arrest on social media.
‘The pink lady is changing her trademark to an orange jumpsuit,’ the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page.
