Bewigged Nurse Robbed Banks as 'Bad-Hair Bandit': FBI

Bail at $500K for one of America's Most Wanted
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2011 1:21 PM CDT
'Bad Hair Bandit' Cynthia Van Holland Robbed 20 Banks: FBI
This image taken from a video surveillance camera inside the Bank of Butte, Aug. 11, 2011, in Butte, Mont., shows a bank robber that witnesses said appeared to be wearing a short black wig.   (AP Photo/The Montana Standard)

Once she was a jailhouse nurse; now she’s known simply as the “Bad Hair Bandit.” Alongside her husband, Cynthia Van Holland is being held for allegedly robbing 20 banks while wearing chintzy wigs. After she was caught this week in northern California, authorities want to make sure she sticks around—so they’ve raised her bail from $50,000 to $500,000, KXLY.com reports.

Her husband, Christopher Alonzo, who at 26 is more than two decades her junior, was reportedly her getaway driver. The two were arrested after a witness spotted her running to her car following a theft, the New York Times reports. The car also contained a cat with “a litter box, toys and all the things a cat would need,” police said. The couple is likely to face a raft of federal charges over heists in Washington, Oregon, and Montana; the cat has not been charged. (More Cynthia Van Holland stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X