A Florida man who spent a decade behind bars for robbing banks while disguised as an elderly person was busted for allegedly committing the same crime 10 years later — in a similar getup.
St. Petersburg local David Sartin, Jr., 40, was nabbed by the feds for allegedly robbing two Sunshine State banks earlier this year while wearing a prosthetic “old man” mask, the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced last Friday.
Sartin is accused of robbing a bank in Largo on Aug. 24 and then another in his hometown on Sept. 15, according to the criminal complaint.
During both heists, Sartin allegedly approached the teller counter wearing the “old man” disguise and demanded money without dye packs, the US Attorney’s Office said.
In the first robbery, investigators determined Sartin arrived at a nearby gas station and drove through the surrounding area before he parked, switched to a bicycle and approached the bank.
After demanding cash, he got away with $2,900 and eerily said “until we meet again,” according to the criminal complaint.
Sartin then fled on his bicycle before getting in his vehicle and speeding away, the feds alleged.
Surveillance footage spotted a vehicle leaving Sartin’s home prior to the second robbery and returning sometime. A white man resembling the serial thief was captured unloading a bicycle, prosecutors alleged.
Sartin made off with $2,554, according to the criminal complaint.
The following day, investigators saw Sartin spray paint the car’s white roof black.
Investigators found a bike, blue suit and black bag during a search of his home which resembled items used during the first robbery, the US Attorney’s Office said.
At Sartin’s storage unit, investigators found a backpack and laptop bag that contained several disguise items that were captured on surveillance footage during the robberies — including the old man mask with grey facial hair, dark-framed glasses and work gloves with black paint on them, according to the release.
A fake handgun and clothing consistent with Sartin’s disguise during the robbery were also found in the bags.
Investigators searched another property where the convicted thief occasionally stayed and found a different prosthetic mask and a journal “written by: David Sartin” in 2021 titled: “God’s Best friend is a Bank Robber! Uncle Henry Cops and Robbers the world through the eyes of a Bank Robber.”
A drawing of a character holding up a mask alongside the handwritten phrase, “My face holding up uncle Henry, looking at it, Face to Face” was discovered in one of the journal’s pages.
At the time of the Florida robberies, Sartin was on supervised release for a federal conviction in 2018 related to five bank heists in Texas in 2016.
Sartin wore a similar elderly man mask during the 2016 robberies and used the same getaway vehicle that was used in Florida, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
He was sentenced to a little over 10 years behind bars at a federal prison.
The serial thief was also convicted in federal court in 2008 of attempted bank robbery — where he and his co-conspirator tried robbing a bank wearing Halloween masks and disguises.
