× ‘Keep Smiling,’ Orange County Bank Robber Tells Victims: FBI 
 
 Orange County detectives and the FBI on Tuesday asked for the public’s help identifying a bank robber who told his victims to “keep smiling” as he robbed a Costa Mesa Citibank last week. 
 
 The so-called “Keep Smiling Bandit” earned his nicknamed during the Oct. 12 robbery at 234 E. 17th St. in Costa Mesa, and he was believed to have robbed a Tustin Citibank at 18232 Irvine Blvd. on Saturday. 
 
 A joint FBI-Orange County Sheriff’s Department Bank Robbery Apprehension Team asked for help identifying the man, described as white, in his early 30s, 5 foot 7 inches to 5 foot 9 inches tall, and weighing 140 to 150 pounds. 
 
 During both robberies, the “Keep Smiling Bandit” passed notes to a teller and verbally demanded cash, a news release distributed by the FBI stated. He wore eyeglasses and a baseball cap and was described as “nervous.” 
 
 No weapon was seen in the two robberies, but the robber’s note read, “Keep your hands away from the alarm or I’ll shoot.” 
 
 Anyone with information on the “Keep Smiling Bandit” was asked to call 911 or, in the Los Angeles area, call the FBI at 310 477-6565. ||||| Just keep smiling, the bank robber told his victims Saturday as he hit a Tustin bank. Those are words he uttered in the past too, the FBI said. 
 
 But the note the man dubbed the “Keep Smiling Bandit” passed to a teller at the Citibank branch in the 18200 block of Irvine Boulevard was cheerless, menacing and easily understood. 
 
 “Keep your hands away from the alarm or I’ll shoot,” the note read. 
 
 The bandit seemed nervous during the robbery but a weapon was never seen, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. 
 
 He may also be linked to a robbery that occurred just days before at another Citibank in Costa Mesa. In both robberies, authorities say he wore a baseball cap and glasses. 
 
 Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (310) 477-6565. 
 
 For breaking news throughout California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA. She can be reached at veronica.rocha@latimes.com. ||||| Sporting a pair of large sunglasses to partially cover her face, a woman walked up to a teller at a Fort Lauderdale bank and demanded money. 
 
 Days later, another woman — her hair tucked into a denim shirt and a ballcap concealing her eyes — held up a bank in Pompano Beach. The next day, another woman hit up a Miramar credit union. 
 
 The weapon of choice each time? A piece of paper. 
 
 The women caught on surveillance cameras during several June bank heists throughout Broward County are part of the growing number of women robbing banks, a crime usually committed by men. 
 
 Nationwide, about 7.5 percent of all bank robberies in 2015 were committed by women. That's up from about 6 percent in 2005 — a 25 percent increase, according to the most recent Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics. FBI figures don't show a breakdown of local trends by state; the bureau would not comment on local trends while court cases are pending. 
 
 Courtesy The women caught on surveillance cameras during several June bank heists throughout Broward County are part of the growing number of women robbing banks, a crime usually committed by men. The women caught on surveillance cameras during several June bank heists throughout Broward County are part of the growing number of women robbing banks, a crime usually committed by men. (Courtesy) (Courtesy) 
 
 Experts say more women are targeting banks because the nature of crime has changed. Bank robberies were once meticulous operations, carried out by a team of masked gunmen and a getaway driver. Now it's not as dangerous — robbers can get a payday without taking hostages or using violence. 
 
 "You don't have to brandish a gun — you don't have to even have a gun," said Darrell Steffensmeier, liberal arts research professor of sociology and criminology at Penn State University. "You can just pass them the note. That's huge." 
 
 Two of the three women suspected in the June robberies have been arrested. 
 
 Ashley Cambridge, 27, of Hollywood, is accused of robbing a Space Coast Credit Union branch in Miramar on June 16 and stealing cash from a SunTrust Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale on June 21. She was arrested just hours after the second robbery. Cambridge is scheduled for trial in August in federal court in West Palm Beach. 
 
 Quayatta Johnson, 27, of Pompano Beach, is accused of robbing a SunTrust Bank in Pompano Beach on June 15. She told several people she knew she was wanted, but evaded capture until she was arrested July 3, according to investigators. 
 
 FBI/Courtesy This is the unknown female bank robber, who hit up a bank in Fort Lauderdale on June 10. The robbery was around 12:30 p.m. and customers were present at Chase Bank, 790 E. Broward Blvd., when the woman wearing sunglasses demanded money from a teller. The FBI released surveillance images of the robber, but no arrest has been announced. This is the unknown female bank robber, who hit up a bank in Fort Lauderdale on June 10. The robbery was around 12:30 p.m. and customers were present at Chase Bank, 790 E. Broward Blvd., when the woman wearing sunglasses demanded money from a teller. The FBI released surveillance images of the robber, but no arrest has been announced. (FBI/Courtesy) (FBI/Courtesy) 
 
 A woman in sunglasses who took money from a Chase Bank in Fort Lauderdale on June 10 is still being sought. 
 
 From accomplice to initiator 
 
 Rosemary Erickson, a forensic sociologist and nationwide expert on crime prevention, said takeover robberies — when a group walks in with guns drawn and tells everyone to hit the floor — are no longer the norm. 
 
 "We had actual professional bank robbers," she said. 
 
 Now robbers blend in with customers and reveal their intentions only when they approach the teller. 
 
 "It isn't the big deal that it was when you had several lives threatened at once during a takeover robbery," Erickson said. 
 
 The tactic of committing a robbery with a handwritten note makes the crime more suitable for women. 
 
 "I think [the trend] will continue increasing ... because of the nonviolent nature of the note-passing robbery," Erickson said, and over time, a woman's role has evolved from working as an accomplice or sidekick to "running the show." 
 
 "Women have been involved in bank robberies but virtually always as the getaway driver, and their partners were usually a boyfriend or someone they had some relationship with," Erickson said. "Now women are taking their own initiative and taking their own accomplices." 
 
 FBI/Courtesy Ashley Carrington and two male accomplices were accused of robbing a bank in Lighthouse Point on Sept. 29, 2015. Carrington, 21, was on probation after admitting she robbed banks in Palm Beach County in 2014. Ashley Carrington and two male accomplices were accused of robbing a bank in Lighthouse Point on Sept. 29, 2015. Carrington, 21, was on probation after admitting she robbed banks in Palm Beach County in 2014. (FBI/Courtesy) (FBI/Courtesy) 
 
 In September 2015, FBI agents caught serial bank robber Ashley Carrington just hours after a holdup at a Capital Bank in Lighthouse Point. She had male accomplices in that robbery but had previously robbed three banks in Palm Beach County on her own. 
 
 Carrington, 21, of Riviera Beach, was still serving three years of federal probation for a 2014 robbery conviction when she passed a note to a teller at Capital Bank saying, "You have 30 secs to empty all draws no pack/no dye," and told her, "Give me all of it." 
 
 At first, the teller gave Carrington money that included bait bills — used to help track bank robbers — from the top drawer and activated a silent alarm. Carrington repeated, "Give me all of it," and the teller handed over the rest of the money. 
 
 At the same time, one of her accomplices demanded money from another teller. The other man was the getaway driver. The trio got away with with more than $19,000 stuffed into a white plastic garbage bag, the FBI said. 
 
 Carrington previously served a 12-month federal prison sentence at the Palm Beach County jail for the 2014 robberies in Lake Park, Palm Beach Gardens and Lantana. 
 
 According to the public defender on the case, Carrington was suicidal and homeless in the period before the 2014 robberies. 
 
 Now Carrington is serving her sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee. She is scheduled for release in December 2019. 
 
 'Robbing for Pampers' 
 
 Women who turn to robbing banks are often in a desperate financial situation, Erickson said. They don't do it because of greed or for fun. 
 
 "They are more likely to be robbing for personal financial needs. Being homeless, or single and alone, especially if they have children ... they are literally robbing for Pampers," Erickson said. "Men, on the other hand, have typically done it for the money or just the thrill of it. 
 
 FBI/Courtesy Ashley Cambridge, 27, was arrested on allegations she robbed a Miramar credit union and a Fort Lauderdale bank on June 16 and 21. Ashley Cambridge, 27, was arrested on allegations she robbed a Miramar credit union and a Fort Lauderdale bank on June 16 and 21. (FBI/Courtesy) (FBI/Courtesy) 
 
 When Ashley Cambridge, a mother of two children, confessed to the robberies in Miramar and Fort Lauderdale, she told agents she spent some of the money on her family, rent and other expenses. 
 
 She identified herself to investigators on crime scene photographs by circling the robber, writing "me" and signing the photographs, agents said. 
 
 During the robberies, she wore a wig and a ballcap but no gloves. Both times, she handed tellers notes written on bank slips that began, "Don't try anything stupid." 
 
 Cambridge took a total of $4,220 in the two robberies, agents said. 
 
 Quayatta Johnson, who was released from state prison in April 2013 after serving time for fraud, grand theft and burglary charges, ran into some financial problems. 
 
 She told agents she had been unemployed and supported herself by selling drugs for the last three years, according to court records. She said she needed money because a customer did not pay her for drugs she had given them on credit. 
 
 During the robbery at a SunTrust bank in Pompano Beach, the robber passed a note that said, "No fake money, no police," and got away with $1,205, agents said. 
 
 "I believe that she said that she spent it paying her bills that she owed," FBI Special Agent Justin Carsten testified in court. 
 
 Tattoos often a giveaway 
 
 Cambridge and Johnson were caught after agents found fingerprints on the pieces of paper they left at the scene of the crime.
– His words may seem cheerful, but his actions have been anything but. A California bank robber now called the "Keep Smiling Bandit" is being sought in two Orange County robberies in which he verbally instructed the likely terrified tellers to keep grins on their faces as they handed the cash over to him, the Los Angeles Times reports. In both instances—one at a Citibank in Tustin on Saturday, the other at a Citibank in Costa Mesa on Oct. 12—the thief passed a note to the teller that said, "Keep your hands away from the alarm or I'll shoot," KTLA reports. No weapon was spotted in either case, an FBI spokeswoman tells the Times; the robber, who can be seen wearing a baseball cap and eyeglasses in both surveillance videos, was described as appearing "nervous," KTTV reports. He's said to be a white man in his early 30s, between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing around 150 pounds with a "thin build." Anyone with info should call 911 or the FBI's LA office at 310-477-6565. (A 55-year-old man was accused last year of stealing 37 bank rugs.)