Suspect allegedly robbed bank, then played golf

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

The man suspected as the Black Beard Bandit and the robber who held up a Hawai'i-record 11 banks raided a Waipahu bank on Saturday and then played nine holes at the Ted Makalena Golf Course before his arrest, according to authorities.

Authorities say Glen Y. Yonamine of Waipahu is the Black Beard Bandit, who is believed to have robbed 11 Hawai'i banks since January 2000.

The FBI charged him with one count of bank robbery on Saturday and were investigating the other robberies, according to FBI spokeswoman Pam McCullough. Yonamine is being held pending a hearing Thursday before federal Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi on a request by federal prosecutors to hold him without bail.

Authorities said a 14-year-old girl helped break the case Saturday by following the fleeing Yonamine from the bank and seeing him without his ski-mask disguise driving off in the car. She took down the license plate and identified Yonamine in a photographic lineup.

"The girl was the most important," said Honolulu Police Department Det. Joyce Alapa, who assisted in the case. "We needed positive ID. She gave us the probable cause to arrest him."

Authorities suspect Yonamine masqueraded in some of his robberies as the Black Beard Bandit, who donned fake-beard disguises. He is believed to be responsible for 11 bank robberies since January of last year, McCullough said.

The 11 robberies would be the statewide record for bank holdups, surpassing William Sarcedo Jr., who admitted to eight robberies, including six in one day in 1999.

According to police, Yonamine is also suspected of robbing Waipahu's First Hawaiian Bank on Jan. 28, 2000, and June 13, 2000; Waipahu's Bank of Hawaii on July 26, 2000; Pearl City's American Savings Bank on Sept. 15, 2000; Waipahu's American Savings Bank on Oct. 31, 2000; Pearl City's Bank of Hawaii on Nov. 24, 2000; Waimalu's City Bank on Nov. 27, 2000; Kane'ohe's City Bank on Dec. 22, 2000; Kailua's First Hawaiian Bank on Jan. 19, 2001; and Waipahu's City Bank on May 5, 2001.

Besides his alleged Black Beard Bandit robberies, Yonamine is suspected of wearing ski masks and storming banks in what authorities called "takeover robberies."

In Saturday's heist, Yonamine is suspected of orchestrating one of his most daring raids, entering the Waipahu bank wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun.

According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent James Tamura-Wageman, Yonamine ordered customers and bank workers to "get down" and ordered tellers to open the money drawers. Yonamine pointed the handgun directly at a customer and took money, including marked bills, and fled through the front door, the affidavit said.

Yonamine then drove off in his car and, according to police, played nine holes at the Ted Makalena Golf Course.

"Basically, he robbed a bank and golfed nine holes after the bank robbery," Alapa said. "We caught him on his way back home."

Alapa said that Yonamine told her and Tamura-Wageman that Yonamine gambled and that she believed he needed money to fuel his addiction.

"The guy doesn't have a job," Alapa said. "He needed money. He said he did have a gambling problem. That may have been an added motive."

Family members said Yonamine was a former glass worker and was unemployed for the past year. He is separated from his wife and has one child, his family said.