Authorities are searching for a woman wearing a long black wig who has used a threatening note to hold up five banks in Baltimore and Baltimore County in the past two weeks, according to the Baltimore office of the FBI.
Four of the banks are in Baltimore County. The latest to be hit was an M&T; Bank in the 5200 block of Belair Road in Northeast Baltimore on Thursday, said Special Agent Richard J. Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI office in Woodlawn.
Wolf described bank robberies by women as "rare" but did not have any statistics immediately available. Last year, 180 banks were held up in Maryland, tying the 11th-highest total nationwide. In the city, 47 banks were hit in 2009; that number is near 20 so far this year
The woman wanted in the most recent robberies has in each case passed a teller a demand note that "threatens to injure bank employees and customers if they do not comply," authorities said. Wolf said the note does not specifically say how and that the woman does not appear to have a weapon.
She is described as a black woman, standing between 5-feet-5 and 5-feet-7 inches tall and wearing a long black wig, white framed sunglasses and a white jacket.
peter.hermann@baltsun.com