Armed with purse and bad wig, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ bandit robs Santa Cruz bank

Santa Cruz police are looking for a cross-dressing man who robbed one bank last week and staked out a second.

Dubbed “Mrs. Doubtfire” by local authorities, the man is seen in security camera video near the entrance of a Rabo Bank with a purse hanging awkwardly from his left arm, his face partially masked by long, curly, blond bangs swept across his face and glasses.

His hair is a wig and his attire a set of navy blue medical scrubs pulled over a light purple, long sleeve undershirt, police said. He’s described as a dark-skinned man between 25 and 35 years old, weighing between 160 and 170 pounds and about 5 feet, 5 inches tall.

“We believe these are great photos of the suspect and somebody in the community has to recognize this person,” Santa Cruz police said in a statement.

Authorities said that on Friday the “Mrs. Doubtfire” bandit stood inside the Rabo Bank about 2 p.m. until he was confronted by bank employees, then left.

“When bank employees contacted the suspect they were surprised to see that although the suspect was dressed like a female, the suspect was actually a male. Hence the title, the Mrs. Doubtfire bank robbery,” police explained.

The same man robbed a U.S. Bank about an hour later.

Anonymous tips can also be sent to the Santa Cruz Police Department through its tip line at (831) 420-5995.

This wouldn’t be the first time authorities have nicknamed a robber Mrs. Doubtfire.

Online media reports show a man nicknamed the Mrs. Doubtfire Bandit was convicted of robbing a bank in Australia in 2006 and a woman in Washington earned the nickname for wearing “dowdy” clothes during several alleged bank robberies in the Seattle suburbs in 2011.

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