A robber who marauded in a high-quality mask that made him appear African-American was no match for Ohio cops.

Conrad Zdzierak, 30, has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated robbery after robbing four banks and an a CVS pharmacy on April 9, reports ABC News affiliate WFTS in Tampa.

Detectives say Zdzierak was initially able to elude the cops because of his disguise, an expensive silicon mask called “The Player” valued at around $650.

"The suspect seen in the surveillance photographs and that we were looking for, we believed to be an African-American male. The suspect was actually a male, white, who was wearing an elaborate disguise," Springdale, Ohio, Police Lt. Michael Mathis told WFTS.

Investigators believe Zdzierak likely removed the mask between the robberies in order to confuse the cops who believed they were looking a black man.

The authorities caught a break when they spotted a Volvo with its interior splattered with red dye from a dye pack slipped into a bag used to hold the stolen money.

Police found Zdzierak hiding in a motel bathroom.

"He wore what I’m calling a ‘Hollywood quality’ mask," Mathis said. "These things cost $600-$700."

Police arrested Zdzierak and charged him with six counts of aggravated robbery.

"You are the type of villain we read about in novels and see in the movies,'' Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Melissa Powers told Zdzierak in court last Friday.

Zdzierak is being held on $3 million bond.

http://www.nydailynews.co..._mask.html

What an idiot...
Reminds me of that lady who accused a guy of another race of kidnapping her kid ...I think. She made the whole thing up.

Alleged bank robber Conrad Zdzierak on left, in mask on right



see link, supposedly a picture of the actual mask : http://www.spfxmasks.com/...2large.gif
[Edited 4/24/10 7:58am]

peacenlovealways said:

Susan Smith? She said that a man car-jacked her car with her kids in it, later the car was found in the lake. She strapped her children into their seats and put the car in the water then lied about it. Why the guy she liked did not want kids!

to his topic: that is a creepy ass mask, looks too real.

But the dude was bound to get caught, at some point someone would have recognized the mask and the mask seller would hand over all sales records for them.
[Edited 4/24/10 8:12am]

OnlyNDaUsa said:

yes her and yes the mask is creepy and looks too real.

I've told this story before, but when I worked in the mall backinthaday, an older white couple were arrested for shoplifting:
They'd pay young black boys to walk into stores and distract the salespeople with their presence, then they'd come in looking innocent and rob the store blind.

lafleurdove said:

That mask doesn't look like a real face to me at all.

chocolate1 said:

Disgusting on so many levels.

PunkMistress said:

Oh, on the link it does. In the security video it didn't.

Why is it called The Player?

It's just a face.

PunkMistress said:

only because you KNOW it is a mask. It look real.

PunkMistress said:

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

chocolate1 said:

This is a reality in our country, still: from men killing wives, mothers killing children, and saying some black guys did it to cops picking at random black boys/men pinning whatever on them.

In early 80's my girlfriend, her guy I went into Neiman-Marcus in Chicago, security started following use around. They had those big reflective mirrors around the store and my friend noticed a smartly dressed middle-aged couple with empty Neiman-Marcus shopping bags walked over and swipe a display table full of men and women kashmir sweaters, all. After store security noticed the store had been robbed blind, they all rush over to that section of the store trying to figure who did what.


=====
[Edited 4/24/10 11:13am]

TD3 said:

lafleurdove said:

He looks like Nick Lachey

why did he try to rob a bank,when he can afford these kind of masks (which looks by the way like dennis rodman )

kpowers said:

He look like the young brother one Drew Lachey

Epic fail, epic public embarrassment, epic asshole...

Audexia said:

I guess he thought it was a sound "investment", he could and would get it back. Hey, he was robbing banks.

TD3 said:

I was an assistant manager at a mall record store when I was in undergrad. On a particularly busy day, a crew of college-aged white guys came in and started sneaking stuff in their pockets like they were at some all-you-can-eat buffet or something. I could see them through our two-way mirror while I was eating lunch in the back room, though, and I called security, who, in turn, arrived just after the guys had left. I led two officers out into the mall to trail the guys, and as this was a fairly "good" neighborhood with not much crime, they were pumped to get some action! When I pointed out the guys who robbed us, though, you could actually see the officers' spirits fall ...and one of them -- I kid you not -- was like, "Uh... You mean the white kids?!?!"

I don't recall what I said to the cop, but I remember it wasn't something my mom wouldn't be particularly proud of... and I just walked away.

The officers came by the store later with some of the recovered merchandise, and they had that sort of we'd apologize but our faces are too full of egg sheepish thing going on. They couldn't even look me in the eye... and I just some 20-year-old geek. They didn't follow protocol of taking a police report, though. They'd just asked the guys to leave the mall.

Lammastide said:

Wow.

Never surprising, but still shocking.

PunkMistress said:

What was surprising is these are cops I thought I knew. They'd come in all the time to shoot the breeze, joke around, etc. I even gave them my manager's discount. After that, nothing drastically changed -- I'm not one to be uncivil. But our interactions from then on definitely weren't as happy-go-lucky as they had been. It kinda sucked.

Thats sick, racist and sick, the robber himself was some dumb looking guy who probably stole that mask if it cost $700.
It happens here too, the Police are always looking for Maori or Pacific Island offenders if its a robbery, rape or domestic abuse and many times the offender is white or Indian, but they never admit they did racial profiling. Police drive around suburbs with high Maori/Pacific populations all day waiting for crime to happen as well. The media never mention when the criminal turns out to be white when they were looking for brown people (Here In NZ, Maori and Pacific people aren't considered black, but they are brown). Yet if the Police are looking for a white guy and the offender turns out to be brown, well the medias all over that.

Racial profiling is alive and well.

kpowers said:

maybe he's wearing a mask on the left picture too

Cinnie said:

No, more like Nick

kpowers said:

No, Drew

The mask looks like Ving Rhames.

Cinnie said:

Nick

kpowers said:

Drew

Cinnie said:

nick

kpowers said:

Oh yeah!!! You're right -- Nick.