Eleven days ago, for the first time in a string of heists over three years, the bandit hurt someone. And that, in the eyes of the police, raised the stakes to a new level.

"I honestly think it's a matter of time until he kills somebody," said Pinellas Sheriff's Office Cpl. Paul Martin, the investigator coordinating the nine-agency hunt.

The Tampa Bay area's most prolific bank robber in decades started his run Jan. 20, 1999, wielding a crowbar at a bank in the Manatee County town of Ellenton.

The next time he used a hammer. The 22 times after that he carried a gun, Martin said.

During a Pinellas robbery last year, he cocked a gun and pointed it at the head of a pregnant teller who wasn't moving fast enough. Then he moved it to her stomach. Less than three pounds of pressure to the trigger and it would have fired, Martin said.

But he didn't harm anyone until Nov. 27 at the SunTrust bank in Port Richey. During an early morning hit, he kicked a teller who was lying on the ground, authorities said.

"She wasn't moving fast enough for him, so he kicked her," said Detective Pete Weekes of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Tellers are frightened.

The Florida Banker's Association is offering a $10,000 reward, the largest in its 113-year history.

"It's very unusual that you have someone who goes along this long and doesn't get caught," said Thomas Kerr, the association's chief financial officer. "The longer someone's out there, the more chances they will take."

Martin said the words "crowbar robber" are a misnomer that portrays the gun-toting robber as gentler than he acts.

"In the robbery world, when we're all working together you've got to give a guy a name," Martin said.

So "Crowbar Robber" stuck.

Investigators believe it's the same man because he always threatens violence, always rides a bike and tellers have given similar descriptions.

He has hit banks from Sarasota north to Ocala, including nine in Pinellas County.

Before entering a bank, he pulls down a mask from under his hat, detectives said. Then he bursts into a nearly vacant bank wearing the mask and gloves. He spews profanity and threatens tellers with his gun. He jumps the counter and stashes money from teller drawers into a pillowcase. He jumps on a bike and pedals to a nearby getaway vehicle.

It takes him as little as 45 seconds, no longer than three minutes, authorities said.

"It will take people longer to read (this) article than it will take him to rob a bank," Martin said.

He's between 35 and 45 years old, 160 to 190 pounds, and 5 feet 10 to 6 feet tall.

Authorities have DNA from hair and sweat he left in at least one bank, Martin said.

There are no pictures of the robber's face.

From a national perspective, he's not anywhere close to the most prolific robbers yet, said John McEachern, a supervisor and special agent in the FBI's Los Angeles field office. But the bay area bandit has the traits of successful bank robbers.

"They will change things up and seem to be patient. They do their homework," McEachern said.

The robber doesn't appear to be robbing to support a substantial drug habit or living from holdup to holdup, detectives said. Even if he gets little or nothing from a hit, he waits to hit again. He rarely hits twice in the same month, and he has never hit twice in a week.

Bank robbers average $2,300 a hit, Martin said. This robber grabs about $4,000 at a time, though sometimes an alert teller slips in a dye pack that ruins the cash.

His commanding style knocks tellers off guard and keeps them from being good witnesses, said Detective Crystal Carpenter of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

"People don't pay attention," Carpenter said. "That's what's made him successful."

But just because he's verbally assaultive in the banks, doesn't rule out the stereotypical "quiet neighbor next door," Carpenter said.

Investigators agree he's certain to keep hitting until he gets caught.

"He's talking," Weekes said. "Somebody out there knows he's doing this."

- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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