A 67-year-old man arrested and charged with several bank robberies in the area has history robbing banks going back 45 years, police said.
Steven Gregory Gass, aka the “Old Man Bandit,” robbed a bank in Montgomery County in 1977, police said.
Gass pleaded guilty to robbing 19 banks in Florida in 2008 and 2009, police said. He received compassionate release from prison in 2019 for medical concerns and moved back to Maryland, where he lived with his parents up to July 14.
On that day about 9:30 a.m., Gass entered a Wells Fargo Bank on North Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg and handed a note to a teller announcing a robbery, police said. The teller walked away and another employee hit a silent alarm.
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Gass left without getting any money, and officers saw him drive away in a black two-door Honda Civic, police said. They followed him to a Park and Ride on Route 80 near Interstate 270 and arrested him.
Detectives connected Gass to a June 18 robbery of a Truist Bank on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, police said. He passed a handwritten note announcing the robbery about 10:30 a.m., took money and got away.
He’s also suspected of a bank robbery in Baltimore County.
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Police executed a search warrant at Gass’ parents’ house in Frederick July 21 and confiscated evidence.
Gass is being held without bond in Montgomery County.
