The so-called "cell phone bandit" was taken into custody early Tuesday morning by local and federal authorities, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.
Candice Rose Martinez, 19, was apprehended in a residence at approximately 3:40 a.m. in the Centreville area of Fairfax County. Loudoun and Fairfax counties had issued warrants for her arrest this weekend in connection with a two of bank robberies in Northern Virginia, according to the Sheriff's Office. The apprehension was made roughly an hour after law enforcement issued a lookout for a car that Martinez and another man were believed to be traveling in.
Martinez is a suspect in the robbery of a Wachovia Bank in Fairfax County Oct. 22 and another bank robbery of a Wachovia in Loudoun County Nov. 4. Two other bank robberies that occurred in Prince William County and the Town of Vienna remain under investigation. In all four cases a female suspect approached a teller, displayed a note and demanded money. In three of the four cases the suspect appeared to be using a cell phone during the course of the robberies. In the latest bank robbery the suspect entered the Wachovia Bank in the Ashburn around 5:30 p.m., displayed a firearm in her purse to a bank teller and handed a note that demanded money, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Working together, investigators from the Fairfax County Police Department, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, Prince William County Police Department, Town of Vienna Police Department and the FBI followed up on tips and information provided to authorities after extensive local and national media exposure of the series of bank robberies.