The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s case against a man
dubbed the
”
No Face Bandit
”
may take a backseat now that he’s been taken into federal
custody.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s case against a man dubbed the “No Face Bandit” may take a backseat now that he’s been taken into federal custody.
Not only does Peter Klein face 27 felony counts of false imprisonment, possession of stolen property and robbery in Santa Clara County, a federal grand jury recently indicted the 49-year-old for 11 counts of armed bank robbery. The banks he robbed of $400,000 were federally insured banks, according to a spokesman from the U.S. Department of Justice. Klein was arraigned Thursday in a San Jose federal courtroom and entered a plea of not guilty.
The charges stem from a year-long spree of 11 bank robberies in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, including four Gilroy banks, according to court documents.
Gilroy police arrested Klein March 27 after they were alerted by an off-duty San Jose police officer stopped at a red light near Chase Bank on First Street, according to police reports. The officer saw customers inside with their hands in the air and believed the situation looked suspicious.
When police caught up to Klein minutes after the call, they ordered him out of his SUV at gunpoint before turning up evidence in his car that linked him to the robbery – a pair of women’s panty hose with the legs cut off, a replica of a Beretta handgun, a pair of cloth gloves lined with blue latex gloves, a cordless screw gun, license plates that were registered to the vehicle and a bag with about $35,000.
Klein was charged with the Chase robbery along with six other bank robberies in Santa Clara County and is also a suspect in four robberies in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Klein’s charges in Santa Clara County carry a maximum prison sentence of 27 years and four months.
A plea hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. June 2 in Department 109 of the South County Courthouse, but Deputy District Attorney Cindy Hendrickson said she wasn’t sure how Klein’s detention by federal officials would affect the case in Santa Clara County.
“We may trail our case pending the resolution of the federal case,” she said earlier this month.
Klein’s wife told police that her husband had lost his job as vice president of the Monterey Pasta Company about two years ago and had only been able to obtain part time and contractual work since, police said. However, a search of Klein’s Aromas home yielded new model vehicles, expensive electronics and furniture and travel documents “that did not appear to be consistent with a family in financial crisis,” according to Gilroy Cpl. Jim Callahan’s report. Police seized bank ledgers, flash drives, tax documents and cash from Klein’s home.
Klein is the author of an e-book called Costco’s Dirty Little Secrets, which derides the wholesaler’s corporate polices and vendor practices based on employee, customer and supplier interviews and Klein’s experience selling products to the company. Klein said he poured a year of his life into writing the expose, according to the book’s Web site.
Klein’s wife told police that Klein was not a bad person and had never been arrested before. She said the robberies were “completely unlike him,” according to police reports.
Dubbed the “No Face Bandit” for his signature attire of dark glasses, nylon stockings and a baseball cap, Klein became more and more brazen as the robberies went on, Hendrickson said. During the earlier robberies, Klein was in and out. But during his most recent robbery, Klein followed a teller into the backroom and ordered each teller to put all their money on the counter at gunpoint, according to police reports. He ordered at least 10 bank employees and customers to the ground, threatening to shoot the tellers if they didn’t hurry, Hendrickson said.
Klein hit up the Saratoga Comerica Bank and the Gilroy Bank of the West twice each. The robberies began in December 2007, when Klein robbed three banks within the course of two weeks just before Christmas.
Klein’s alleged robberies
March 27, 2009 – Chase Bank, 1177 First Street, Gilroy – $35,236
Jan. 15, 2009 – Comerica Bank, 13000 Saratoga Sunnyvale Road, Saratoga – $63,393
Dec. 3, 2008 – Comerica Bank, 7915 San Miguel Canyon Road, Prunedale – $55,994
Oct. 29, 2008 – Wachovia Bank, 100 Kings Village Road, Scotts Valley – $15,789
June 11, 2008 – Union Bank of California, 601 Bay Avenue, Capitola – $131,265
May 23, 2008 – Bank of the West, 7865 Monterey Street, Gilroy – $15,851
March 14, 2008 – Bank of the West, 7865 Monterey Street, Gilroy – $25,326
March 7, 2008 – Washington Mutual Bank, 7851 Soquel Drive, Aptos – $10,196
Dec. 19, 2007 – Wells Fargo Bank, 16100 Los Gatos Boulevard, Los Gatos – $29,108
Dec. 11, 2007 – Comerica Bank, 13000 Saratoga Sunnyvale Road, Saratoga – $6,941
Dec. 5, 2007 – Union Bank of California, 805 First Street, Gilroy – $3,633
