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'Shaky Bandit' suspect arrested after Collier bank robbery, 120 mph chase, deputies say

A robbery suspect known as the "Shaky Bandit" because of the way his hands trembled while holding up banks may now quiver in a jail cell.

Brandon Michael Venditti.

Authorities arrested Brandon Venditti, 22, of Weston, and Walter Roberts, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, on Tuesday after the duo led deputies on a high-speed chase on Alligator Alley, the Collier County Sheriff's Office reported. 

Venditti, also known as the "Shaky Bandit," faces federal bank robbery charges. He is accused of robbing a Wells Fargo at 12604 E. U.S. 41 in East Naples on Tuesday afternoon, and federal agents said they have linked him to as many as 11 bank robberies in Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties over the past three weeks.

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Walter Roberts

Roberts faces felony charges of fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers and possession of a controlled substance. He also faces misdemeanor charges of driving without a valid license and resisting arrest without violence. 

The 9-mile chase on Interstate 75 began about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after a deputy in an unmarked patrol car near Davis and Collier boulevards saw a gray Mazda hatchback that matched the description of a car reportedly used in a bank robbery in East Naples earlier that day, the report states.

The deputy followed the Mazda and activated his emergency lights and siren as the car pulled onto I-75, heading east. 

But instead of pulling over, the driver of the Mazda increased his speed and passed the I-75 tollbooth "in excess of 85 mph," according to the report.

More deputies, including a Sheriff's Office aviation unit, joined in on the chase and tried to stop the Mazda near mile marker 96, using stop sticks to deflate the car's tires, the report states. 

The driver of the Mazda maneuvered around the stop sticks and sped to 120 mph, according to the report.

Authorities said this surveillance photo shows a robbery at a Citibank branch in Fort Lauderdale.  Brandon Venditti, also known as the "Shaky Bandit," is a suspect, authorities said.

When deputies deployed stop sticks a second time, three of the car's tires were punctured.

The pursuit continued for 2 more miles as the Mazda's "tires slowly deflated and the speeds dramatically reduced." The driver then veered across the median near mile marker 92 "as though he was going to travel in the wrong lanes of travel," the report states.

The Mazda then came to a sudden stop in the outside lanes for westbound traffic before the driver, later identified as Roberts, exited the car, jumped the guardrail and ran toward a 15-foot tall chain-link fence separating I-75 from the Everglades, according to the report.

Roberts climbed the fence, which is topped with "several layers of barbed wire," and jumped into the canal on the other side, deputies wrote.

But as Roberts tried to climb the embankment on the other side of the canal, deputies who had gained access to the dirt road along the canal held him at the water's edge at gunpoint. They then pulled him up into the grass and arrested him, the report states. 

Deputies searched Roberts and reported finding a small bag containing a brown substance in his pocket, according to the report. A field test of the bag's contents yielded positive results for amphetamine, deputies wrote. 

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Near where Roberts climbed the fence, deputies found a small bag with a large sum of money inside, the report states. Back at the Mazda, authorities arrested Venditti, who was in the rear seat of the car, according to the report.

The FBI responded to the scene because they were involved with "several open robbery cases" involving Venditti, deputies wrote.

In another open case, Venditti is accused of trying to steal a $229 chainsaw from a Coconut Creek Home Depot in Broward County in July.

The bank robberies are being investigated by the FBI's South Florida Violent Crimes Task Force. Anyone with any information about the investigation is urged to call the FBI at 754-703-2000 or Crime Stoppers.