'Polite Bandit' with gun allegedly tells California robbery victims that he had kids to feed

Friday, November 16, 2018
'Polite Bandit' arrested following 33 day crime spree in Northwest Fresno
'Polite Bandit' arrested following 33 day crime spree in Northwest Fresno

FRESNO, California -- For 33 days, police say Bryan Onyegegbu, 31, ran around California, robbing businesses while armed with a weapon.

"Each time our officers responded to these robberies, they kept getting the same description," said Fresno Police Lt. Dave Madrigal.

But authorities say it is what Onyegegbu said before demanding the cash that linked him to each crime.

"He was very polite and apologetic, he would always say, 'I'm sorry, nothing personal, I've got kids to feed, but give me the money,'" Lt. Madrigal said.

All of the robberies happened within a mile of each other. The first one at a gas station on Oct.10.

Then Onyegegbu is accused of striking again at a Walgreens nearly two weeks later.

But it is his final stop at a Little Caesar's pizza on Monday that hit home for Christina Sayaakhammy.

"It's just getting dangerous," Sayaakhammy said.

She works at the nail salon right next door and says because of the robbery, her boss made some changes for their safety.

"We're going to have to stop taking clients at an early time and we're going to have start locking the doors at our closing time 6 p.m.," said Sayaakhammy. "And now we just got the buddy system to walk each other out to our cars."

Something Smoker's Paradise owner Hussain Alfarah is considering doing, too.

He recorded video of police on scene after the heist. While he is still shocked by what happened, he says he is even more stunned with how politely the alleged bandit handled himself.

"That is the first time you hear something like that happen, apologizing to you know, for what," Alfarah said.