CAPTURED: 'Make Yourself at Home Bandit' arrested in Virginia
CAPTURED: Lloyd Rhodes was apprehended by a federal fugitive task force in June of 2020 while he was at a bus station in Virginia. A handgun was recovered in a bag he was carrying.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Seattle Police and the FBI are working with a task force out of Denver to catch a serial armed robbery suspect known as the 'Stay at Home Bandit,' who we also dubbed ‘The Face Tape Bandit’ last September.
Surveillance video shows the suspect with black tape on his face and hat, who detectives have now identified as Lloyd Eugene Rhodes. Police say he threatened to shoot an employee at a movie theater during an armed robbery in the University District. He was there waiting and disguised as an employee. It’s the same MO police say he has used in 13 other robberies: Entering a business before it closes, hiding and then waiting until employees arrive the next day.
The FBI's Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force is calling him the 'Make Yourself at Home Bandit' and says Rhodes has hit at least 14 different restaurants, nightclubs and movie theaters in Denver, Iowa, Nebraska, Arizona, Tennessee, with the last known robbery in Saint Matthews, Kentucky on November 3rd, 2019.
"Has he stopped? No. According to our information, the most recent one was in Marysville, Pennsyslvania," said Ret. Det. Myrle Carner with Crime Stopper s of Puget Sound. "The thing that continues to haunt us, in a lot of these cases, he's taken the victim's car with him, so he's driving it, he's changing plates, he steals other cars. This guy knows what he's doing, but he's gonna slip up and when he does, we're gonna catch him. We don't think he's in the area, but he has contacts here and that's what we're after. Somebody here knows the exact location of this guy and that's who we want to talk to."
Lloyd Rhodes is 57 years old, 5’5" and weighs 185 pounds.
Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering a cash reward of up to $1,000 for any information that leads to his arrest and the FBI just raised the reward to $15,000 for information that leads to his capture. You can remain anonymous by submitting tips to Crime Stoppers through the P3 Tips App on your cell phone, or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS(8477).