Authorities say serial bank robber at large

(Handout Photo)

A security camera photo of the suspect, who was talking on a cellphone when he attempted to rob the Arlington bank.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Authorities say a bank robber was very busy Tuesday, attempting to rob banks in Arlington and Chelsea and successfully robbing a bank in Malden.

“We consider this a serial bank robber,” said Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the Boston FBI office. “He’s going to continue robbing banks until he’s caught.”

The suspect attempted to rob the Central Bank on Broadway in Arlington and the Winter Hill Bank on Everett Avenue in Chelsea, but fled without getting any money. He did get money in a third attempt, at a Bank of America branch on Center Street in Malden, Marcinkiewicz said.

The same man is also suspected in robberies on Feb. 3 in Woburn and Feb. 9 in Winchester, Marcinkiewicz said.

In the Arlington attempt, the robber was foiled because he asked a trainee teller for money and she had been told not to do cash transactions, said Arlington Police Captain John Serson.

“I guess he must have been confused by the whole situation because she wasn’t complying with his request,” Serson said.

The robber is described as a white man in his 20s, 5-feet-9, thin build, with blue-green eyes, wearing a baseball cap and a hooded sweatshirt underneath a jacket with a Red Sox logo on the back.

Marcinkiewicz said she was confident that the FBI, working with state and local police, would crack the case.

"We have a pretty high solution rate," she said. "Bank robberies don't really pay."

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