A judge on April 6 sentenced the cross dressing “Tootsie Bandit” to seven years and eight months in state prison for robbing two banks and trying to hold up a third one.
Robert Dean Tyndall II, 56, of Hillcrest, got the maximum sentence from San Diego Superior Court Judge Robert O’Neill under the plea agreement. He was ordered to pay approximately $63,000 in restitution.
“He dressed up as a woman in one and wore earrings in another (robbery),” said Deputy District Attorney Dennis Panish.
Tyndall wore a blonde wig, a black blazer with a blue blouse, blue jeans, and black boots when he held up the Inland Federal Credit Union in El Cajon on July 16, 2010. The FBI released six color photos to the media, but he was not arrested until Feb. 4.
Panish said the motive for the robberies was Tyndall’s addiction to a prescription pain killer drug. Police recovered $8,781 in cash at his Hillcrest residence, but Tyndall apparently spent approximately $63,000 before he was caught.
Tyndall apologized for his actions, telling O’Neill he had worked as a maintenance engineer and saying “I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ll never do anything like this again.”
“My view on drugs – I hate them. They ruined my life,” said Tyndall. “My wife won’t have anything to do with me.”
His attorney, Doug Miller, said that Tyndall was not armed with a real gun. “No one was harmed or injured in this series of bank robberies,” said Miller, who asked for a prison term of four years and eight months.
Tyndall pleaded guilty to all charges on March 8. He has prior misdemeanor convictions for burglary and theft from 1979 and 1986.
San Diego Police gave the series the nickname of the “Tootsie Bandit” in reference to the 1982 comedy Tootsie, which starred Dustin Hoffman as a cross dressing character.
Hoffman played an out of work actor who had trouble getting jobs because he was difficult to work with. Hoffman dressed as a woman and was hired to play a female character on a soap opera.
