'Burly Bandit' Not to Blame for Darien Robbery

Robert Ferguson, the man said to have robbed banks across five New England states in recent months as the "Burly Bandit," is not the person who struck a Darien branch in April as previously believed, police told Patch on Wednesday.

According to Capt. Fred Komm of the Darien Police Department, investigators were able to confirm that Ferguson, 47, of Lowell, Mass., had been in a different state during the April 12 burglary of the Bank of America on Sedgewick Avenue.

"We're back to square one," Komm said. He added that the department currently has no suspects in the case.

Ferguson was arrested July 14 in Bangor, Maine following a robbery in nearby Orono. The Greyhound bus driver is charged with holding up banks in Maine and Rhode Island and is believed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to have struck a total of 10 locations, including others in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.

Komm said that, based on Ferguson's work schedule and information developed by the FBI in recent days, investigators concluded that he had been Burlington, Vt. at the time of the incident.

When the bureau it listed the Darien episode among his suspected robberies. The man pictured in security camera captures from the Darien Bank of America has a similar build to Ferguson, and both robbers wore props and costumes during the stickups—a bright blue yarmulke, in the local thief's case.

"We were confident—not 100 percent certain, but confident—that he was the guy, as he had a very similar appearance to the photos of the individual arrested," Komm said.

According to police, the yet-unidentified man walked into the bank around 10:30 a.m., had a cup of coffee, passed a note to the teller demanding money, and left on foot. The robber was clad in a grey, waist-length pea coat and the yarmulke. The coat was recovered after the department's K-9 unit tracked the thief to a parking lot near Goodwives Shopping Center, but the man escaped.

"He was casual and matter-of-fact. Everyone said he was a polite robber, non-threatening. But he wanted his money, and the note spoke for him," Komm told Patch in April. 

According to the FBI, the "Burly Bandit" wasn't quite so courteous, having brandished a weapon and made threats to kill bank tellers.

John Everett, a fellow Greyhound driver, told Patch last month that he had seen Ferguson the day of the robbery and that "you should be able to tell" from the photos that he was not the burglar in Darien's case.