"Ponytail Bandit" Pleads Guilty to Bank Robbery Spree

A 38-year-old man who robbed a four banks in two days in 2013, including two banks in Cranston, pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence on Friday to four counts of bank robbery.

Vaugh Watrous, 38, entered his plea before U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. and will be sentenced on Jan. 19 of 2016.

Watrous led police on a week-long robbery spree and earned the nickname “the ponytail bandit” after he was captured on security cameras with his long hair pulled back.

His arrest was a dramatic scene at the Cranston Parkade on Garfield Avenue as officers surrounded his car as he sat with a wad of cash in his lap not long after his final robbery attempt at a local Citizen’s Bank.

At the time of his plea, Watrous admitted that beginning on Feb. 11 of 2013, he robbed Sovereign Bank branches on North Main Street in Providence, Atwells Avenue in Providence and on Reservoir Avenue in Cranston. He also admitted to robbing the Citizen’s Bank inside the Stop and Shop on Garfield Avenue on Valentine’s Day in 2013.

In each instance, Watrous passed a note demanding money and telling tellers not to trigger the alarm.