Female bank robbery suspect arrested in Fairfax
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
July 3, 2009
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Fairfax County police have charged a 24-year-old Fairfax woman with robbing two area banks at gunpoint over the past month.
Stephanie Marie Nightingale was taken into custody early Thursday morning, several hours after police say she robbed a Cardinal Bank in McLean.
According to authorities, Nightingale entered the bank shortly after 4 p.m. She approached two female tellers, ages 20 and 42, at the counter, pulled out a handgun and demanded cash. The tellers complied and she ran out of the bank. No one required medical assistance, police said.
Investigators quickly developed Nightingale as a suspect and arrested her at her home on the 4400 block of Holly Avenue in Fairfax. Police declined to release any details regarding their suspicion that Nightingale was the robber.
As detectives continued their investigation, they developed Nightingale as a suspect for the June 5 armed robbery of an M&T Bank in Fairfax.
Police say on that day, a lone female armed with handgun entered the bank at 11721 Lee Highway around 11 a.m. and demanded cash from the tellers. She was given an undisclosed amount of cash and ran off, police said. No one was injured in the robbery.
Lone female robbers commit only a small portion of U.S. bank robberies. But Fairfax County has been struck by two in the past month. One suspect, Nightingale, is now behind bars.
Police are still searching for the woman who robbed a Wachovia Bank at 8994 Lorton Station Blvd. in Lorton.
Authorities say the women entered the bank the afternoon of June 25. She passed a note to a 22-year-old male teller implying she had a gun and demanding cash. The teller complied and she quickly exited through the front door. Outside, she jumped into an older-model, champagne-colored Honda Accord and fled the scene.
Police described the robber as black and in her mid-30s or early 40s. She's about 5 feet 4 inches tall with a large build. She was wearing a white T-shirt and white hat.
Anyone with information should call Fairfax County police at 703-691-2131.
