Coast-to-coast bank robber draws FBI manhunt

A manhunt was underway Tuesday for the "Coast to Coast Bandit" accused of robbing or attempting to rob one bank in Los Angeles and five in New York City.

The bandit last struck Monday in New York, the FBI said in a statement. The suspect, wearing a New York Mets ballcap, attempted to rob an Apple Bank in Queens before robbing a Chase Bank down the street and fleeing on foot with the cash, the FBI said.

"The suspect threatened a weapon and demanded cash by passing a note in both incidents," the statement said. The FBI did not say how much money was taken.

The suspect has also been linked to a Chase Bank robbery Thursday a few blocks from the Empire State Building in Manhattan, two other robberies in New York in March and a robbery on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles a month ago. In the Los Angeles robbery, the teller was handed a note "which threatened a gun and knife," the FBI said.

The suspect may have had a sunburn for that one, the FBI says.

The suspect is a white male in his 40s or 50s, about 6-feet tall with a medium build. His baseball loyalties are apparently divided — in two of the earlier robberies he wore a Yankees cap, the FBI says.

The FBI and police in Los Angeles and New York are investigating.

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