Mobile bandit confesses crime

Mobile bandit confesses crime

An FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., claimed that 19-year-old Candice Martinez has confessed being responsible for thefts in four Wachovia Bank branches in northern Virginia. FBI Special Agent Timothy Pak said that Martinez admitted to her involvement in the bank robberies at the Fairfax police headquarters.

Martinez was arrested a little before 4 a.m. on Tuesday when an FBI agent managed to locate a car having the license-plates which they were looking for.

Earlier, CCTV cameras were able to film Martinez wherein she was handing over a slip to the bankers to withdraw money while simultaneously pretending to talk on the mobile phone. Investigating officers were uncertain as to whether she was in fact talking to someone or was it just a cover up trick, according to a FBI spokesman.

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But Martinez' admissions cleared the air. Explaining the modus operandi, Martinez revealed that she first presented a note on a box asking for a certain sum. Next, she used to position herself at the window and be busy on the mobile in conversation with her boyfriend Dave Williams. The latter always stationed himself outside the bank as the watchful eye waiting in a getaway car.

Using the above mentioned trick, Martinez' once managed to get away with $15,000. The amount hasn't been recovered yet.

The sequence of thefts began with a holdup in Vienna on the 12th of last month.

Martinez is a community college student from Santa Fe, N.M., while her boyfriend Williams is an ex-employee of the Wachovia Bank. Williams also admitted to being partner in the crime.

Police managed to get hold of Williams (also 19) on Monday night at an apartment after which FBI began the hunt for the getaway car: a gray 1993 Nissan Maxima which was finally spotted at 3:30 a.m. the next morning by the FBI's Supervisory Special Agent Ron Chavarro. He questioned a couple of people in the car who spilled the beans on the whereabouts of Martinez.