White robber fools police for weeks with elaborate African-American 'Hollywood' mask

 

 

By Carol Driver

Last updated at 3:32 PM on 23rd April 2010

 

 

• Add to My Stories
  

 

It was a disguise that fooled police for weeks.

CCTV footage of six burglaries showed an African-American man wearing a hoodie and demanding cash from bank workers.

So officers got to work trying to track the suspect - who they believed was a black male - and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

 

 

 

Disguise: Police claim Conrad Zdierak, left, wore an African-America full face 'Hollywood' mask, right, to carry out six robberies in Ohio

 

However, after a tip-off, police were led to Conrad Zdierak – a 30-year-old white man – staying at a hotel near to where the crimes took place on March 5 and April 9. .

They claim he wore an elaborate £450 silicon Hollywood special effects mask as part of an elaborate disguise.

The suspect would don the full-face camouflage, dubbed 'The Player, as he committed the robberies, and remove it as he fled the scene, officers allege.

 

Fooled: CCTV footage of Zdzierak allegedly wearing the mask while carrying out a bank robbery

 

Zdiera, who was born in Poland would also wear dark sunglasses to prevent his blue eyes from giving him away, it is claimed.

The interior of the suspect's Volvo was splattered in red-dye from an exploding ink pack taken from a bank during one of the hauls, police in Springdale, Ohio, said.

Camouflage: The special effects mask costs about £450

 

Mr Zdierak, who yesterday was charged with six counts of aggravated robbery, allegedly held up four banks and a pharmacy within the same hour.

The suspect also implied he was armed in some instances, officers said.

 

Lieutenant Michael Mathis ,from the Springdale Police Department, admitted police were fooled by the disguise and said he had never seen anything like it.

‘The suspect seen in the surveillance photographs and that we were looking for, we believed to be an African-American male,’ he said.

‘The suspect was actually a male, white, who was wearing an elaborate disguise.

'He wore what I'm calling a "Hollywood quality" mask. These things cost $600 to $700.'

 

Zdzierak has is currently being held on a £2million bond.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1268215/White-robber-fools-police-weeks-elaborate-African-American-Hollywood-mask.html#ixzz0lwOmZly9

lol

ill remeber to pretend Im black to fool the cops next time

 

It would take them weeks to figure it out

 

but what idiot would stay in town after robbing all those banks?

 

I wonder how disapointed they were when they found out he wasnt black lol

I kinda lol'd at this, they probably would have kept looking for a black man otherwise instead of thinking 'it's a disguise!'