GRASS VALLEY, Calif. — The FBI has fingered a 74-year-old Nevada man as the “Fedora Bandit” responsible for robbing a number of banks in the region in late 2009 and early 2010, including hitting the same Bank of the West twice in Grass Valley.

An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Mound House, Nev., resident David Griffith Osborne, who wasn't hard to locate.

He has been serving a three-year federal sentence in Lompoc since October on drug trafficking charges, after being stopped in a motor home in Kansas in December 2010 with more than 40 pounds of cocaine and more than 160 pounds of marijuana.

Osborne also has a prior federal conviction dating back to 1992, when he was arrested in California for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

No date has been set for his appearance in federal court in Sacramento on the bank robbery charges, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Lauren Horwood. The arrest warrant lists seven counts of armed bank robbery, two of which are for the Grass Valley heists.

He faces up to 25 years in federal prison for each bank robbery. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez is prosecuting the case.

“The Grass Valley Police Department is pleased to learn of the issuance of a complaint ... seeking David Griffith Osborne's accountability for his involvement in a series of bank robberies occurring in 2009 and 2010 across Northern California and Nevada,” said Police Capt. Rex Marks in a prepared statement.

“This announcement will serve in the process of bringing closure to the many involved persons who were both directly and indirectly affected by these violent crimes. More importantly, it is our hope that this action also aides in sustaining the public's faith in the criminal justice system to hold criminal offenders responsible for their actions.”

Robberies spanned two states, seven months

Osborne committed bank robberies between December 2009 and June 2010 that allegedly netted him nearly $56,000, according to an arrest warrant by FBI Special Agent Andrew Forristel.

Osborne allegedly hit a branch of Bank of the West in Grass Valley twice, in December 2009 and March 2010.

The bank robber, described as a nattily dressed man, robbed the Taylorville Road bank on Dec. 22, 2009, displaying a handgun and making off with more than $12,000.

The robber entered the bank, walked up to a teller and demanded money, then pulled aside his jacket to display a black-handled handgun in the waistband of his pants. The teller complied with his demand and no one was injured.

The bank robber was described as a white man, dressed in baggy brown trousers, tan shirt, tan waist-length jacket, green scarf and light tan fedora-style hat.

The alleged serial bank robber hit the same Taylorville Road branch on March 31, 2010, displaying a handgun and demanding money.

According to the arrest warrant, Osborne walked up to a teller, removed a gun from his bag and said, “Here we go again.”

He allegedly told the teller to give him the money from both drawers and was given nearly $3,500 in cash.

Through the spring of 2010, the Fedora Bandit also robbed branches of Bank of the West in South Lake Tahoe (Feb. 18), in Kings Beach (March 8), in Carson City (April 14) and in Gridley (April 26). In the Kings Beach robbery, Osborne allegedly “physically handled” two customers with a handgun in his right hand.

Osborne allegedly then changed his targets, hitting an American River Bank in Rancho Cordova (June 3) and a Chase Bank in Paradise (June 29). In both of those robberies, he fled on a bicycle, according to the warrant.

In each of the robberies, Osborne was alleged to use the same M.O.: Wearing a hat, sunglasses, fake mustache and goatee, and brandishing a gun while demanding money from tellers. In each robbery, he allegedly displayed a handgun and used a black, eco-friendly bag commonly found at many supermarkets to stash his loot, with straps and unidentified green writing.

At the time, the FBI believed it was searching for a man in his 40s or 50s. But DNA obtained from the bandit's getaway bicycle in the June 29 robbery proved to be the break the FBI needed.

Osborne allegedly fled the Paradise bank on the bike before abandoning it behind a nearby movie theater and driving away in a white Jeep Cherokee, according to the arrest warrant.

DNA evidence was recovered from the bicycle, and it was matched to Osborne.

Another link in the chain of evidence was made when a check of records revealed Osborne was the registered owner of a white Jeep Cherokee, which matched the Jeep captured on the movie theater's surveillance video, according to the arrest warrant.

According to Forristel's affidavit, he interviewed Osborne in Lompoc on Jan. 19 and he confessed to the eight robberies. Osborne was not formally charged with the Carson City robbery, although he allegedly has confessed to that crime, as well as an aborted robbery in Antioch.

Drug conviction stems from Kansas traffic stop

Osborne was sentenced in federal court on Oct. 4 to three years in prison after he pleaded no contest to interstate transportation in aid of racketeering; he had been charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana.

His conviction stemmed from an arrest on Dec. 12, 2010, when a Kansas Highway Patrol officer stopped him on Interstate 70 in Wabaunsee County, outside Topeka.

The trooper was on patrol when he saw the motor home crossing the fog line, and pulled Osborne over. The trooper searched the motor home after noting Osborne's Nevada address and becoming suspicious of the fact that Osborne had two children's bicycles attached to the rear of the vehicle.

During a search, the trooper found a suitcase concealed in a bench that contained several packages of cocaine, then later uncovered the marijuana in a space covered by plywood under a bed mattress.

Osborne was indicted Jan. 11, 2011, in federal court in Kansas. During a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence, Osborne testified that he had transported the drugs to Nevada.

In the same hearing, Osborne testified that he formerly used a motor home to travel to poker tournaments. A David Osborne from Mound House or Carson City is listed in national poker rankings, with most of his winnings occurring in 2007-2008. The last tournament he is listed as winning was on Aug. 17, 2011, just a few short months before his sentencing.

Osborne also testified that he considered attacking the state trooper as he searched the motor home, according to the transcript of the hearing.

“I know there's a problem, and he's right there in front of me, bent over,” Osborne said.

“It's crossing my mind, I could grab his pistol, or right in the seat next to me on my right in the back of the, you know, there's a pouch there, there's a screwdriver with a square head, and you know, I — and I could have grabbed that and stabbed him in the back of the neck with it.”

In response to questioning as to whether he asked the trooper to stop searching, Osborne said no.

“You never tried to stop him, did you, sir?” asked the prosecutor.

“I came awfully close,” Osborne responded.