KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2024 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

FBI arrests suspect accused in 23 'Back Again Bandit' bank robberies

With help from Phoenix police, the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force has arrested a man accused of robbing 22 banks in Arizona and one in Nevada over a 10-month span dating to last December.

Richard Zumbro, 44, was arrested on Monday after a robbery at a U.S. Bank location in Mesa.

Rob Scherer is with the FBI says the pattern of the robberies made it difficult to make an arrest.

“This individual hit from Tucson up to Anthem, you know within the Valley, and didn’t leave the state during one incident. So yeah, where he had some patterns, other patterns were that he didn’t have a pattern as far as locations where he was going to hit," said Scherer.

Scherer says banks inside grocery stores were frequently targeted. The suspect was nicknamed the “Back Again Bandit” because the same two banks in Phoenix and Tempe were robbed a total of five times.

Reyna Preciado was an intern at KJZZ in 2021.