Cops: Ex-Fla. man disguised race to rob banks

SPRINGDALE, OHIO -- A former Tampa Bay resident is accused of wearing a Hollywood-style mask to disguise his race while robbing five banks in Ohio.

Detectives say 30-year-old Conrad Zdzierak used a mask known as "The Player" to alter his appearance and make him look African-American.

Officers say the bank robber, known only as the "hairless" robber, targeted four banks and a CVS pharmacy in the span of three hours on April 9. Various police departments throughout Hamilton County were unable to catch the man because of his disguise.

"The suspect seen in the surveillance photographs and that we were looking for, we believed to be an African American male. The suspect was actually a male, white, who was wearing an elaborate disguise," said Springdale Police Lieutenant Michael Mathis.

Investigators believe Zdzierak was likely eluding capture by taking off the mask between the robberies and driving to his next target all the while police were searching for a black man.

It took a tip from Crime Stoppers before police were able to zero in on Zdzierak as their prime suspect.

A Volvo seen driving away from one of the robberies matched the description of a car parked at an Extended Stay America Hotel.

"The more we investigated the more promising it looked," Mathis said.

Officers say the interior of the Volvo in the hotel parking lot was coated red from an exploded dye pack bank tellers had slipped into a bag used to hold the stolen money

Authorities obtained a search warrant and officers from various police departments and agents from the Cincinnati FBI office converged on the hotel.

When police opened the Zdzierak's hotel room door they encountered his pit bull which bit one of the officers. The dog was shot and killed by an officer during the attack. The officer bit was not seriously injured.

Police found Zdzierak hiding in the bathroom.

Investigators say they found the mask, clothing worn during the robberies, and money with serial numbers matching bills stolen in the robberies. But it was the elaborate mask that police say Zdzierak used in the robberies that really got their attention.

"He wore what I’m calling a ‘Hollywood quality’ mask," Michael Mathis said. "These things cost $600-$700."

Police arrested Zdzierak and charged him with six counts of aggravated robbery.

In addition to the five robberies he committed on April 9, police say Zdzierak robbed a bank on March 5. A few days after his first robbery, Zdzierak was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. He bonded out of jail after that arrest.

"You are the type of villain we read about in novels and see in the movies,'' Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Melissa Powers told Conrad Zdzierak when he appeared in court last Friday. She ordered him held on $3 million bond.

Police say the Polish native had been living in the hotel room since at least last September.

Previously, Zdzierak called Seminole here in Florida home. He was arrested in 2005 in Pinellas County for cocaine possession and battery. Court records show Zdzierak received four years probation and had adjudication withheld.

Reported by: Sean O'Reilly