Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Robbery suspects lived large, witnesses say

The man accused of being the Band-Aid Bandit didn't file taxes for years, but spent plenty.

By CARRIE WEIMAR
Published April 10, 2007

TAMPA - Emeregildo Roman told the IRS he never made more than $15,000 a year between 2000 and 2005.

His former brother-in-law, Rafael Rondon, reported making $21,456 in 1999, then didn't file any taxes for the next six years.

But while their incomes were low, their lifestyles were lavish, witnesses testified Monday.

Rondon paid cash for a $26,500 Lincoln Navigator and bought a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home valued at $168,000 in 2002.

Roman paid $1,100 a month in rent for a tan stucco house in suburban Orlando, his landlord told jurors.

He also took two private salsa dancing lessons a week at $55 a session, his teacher testified Monday.

"He did good," Brunilda Garcia, Roman's salsa teacher, told jurors.

Rondon and Roman are on trial in U.S. District Court, accused of robbing six banks in the Tampa Bay area. Authorities believe Rondon is the man they nicknamed the Band-Aid Bandit, who is accused of robbing up to 39 banks between 2000 and 2006.

Rondon and Roman, who is accused of being his accomplice, also face conspiracy and gun charges. They could be sentenced to up to more than 100 years in prison if found guilty.

On Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Murphy Davis walked jurors through the disparity between the pair's reported income and the amount they spent.

Robert Lamontagne, a golf pro at MetroWest, a course outside Orlando, said Roman was a member and spent more than $11,000 on greens fees between 2004 and 2006. Roman frequently brought Rondon as a guest, Lamontagne said.

The pair also played up to twice a week at Sanctuary Ridge in Clermont, formerly known as the Diamond Players Club. The fees ranged from $25 to $60 per round.

Also Monday, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab analyst presented DNA evidence linking Rondon to disguises found in his home.

The connection is significant because the bandit typically wore wigs and false mustaches while robbing banks, according to court testimony.

The analyst, Robin Ragsdale, said she also found DNA belonging to Rondon on plastic ties left at the Fifth Third Bank in Pinellas Park after it was robbed by the bandit. The ties were used to bind a teller's hands.

But an attempt by the prosecution to introduce pictures of the defendants with wigs and mustaches digitally added by the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Va., was denied by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday.

Murphy Davis argued that jurors should see the altered pictures because several tellers testified they couldn't identify the men who robbed them because they were so heavily disguised.

But attorneys for Rondon and Roman, Daniel Hernandez and Terry Christian respectively, argued the pictures were overly prejudicial.

Merryday agreed, saying the pictures were similar to a criminal lineup with just one suspect.

"If the purpose here is to display what the wig that was seized in the search looks like when arrayed on the head of a human being," Merryday said, "then it should be placed on the head of a mannequin or another witness."

[Last modified April 10, 2007, 00:37:40]