Well-Dressed Bandit sentenced for nine bank robberies

The bank robber called the Well-Dressed Bandit is changing his expensive threads for prison garb.

Anthony Burgess, 30, of San Diego, was sentenced Tuesday to four years and three months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the nine bank robberies that the FBI called the Well-Dressed Bandit series because of the robber's taste in clothes.

Under a plea agreement accepted by federal Judge Michael Anello, Burgess will pay $48,024 in restitution to the banks.

Burgess was arrested after an off-duty police officer saw him leaving the scene of the ninth robbery in a late-model Mercedes.

According to court testimony, Burgess, who was unemployed, said he needed the money to continue to enjoy fine clothes and fancy automobiles and was also thinking of starting a music company.

--Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Well-Dressed Bandit on surveillance camera. Credit: FBI