Pair confess to 4 bank robberies, FBI says

Federal agents arrested a Mesa couple on Friday, after the pair confessed to robbing a Wells Fargo Bank branch on Nov. 13.

Lee J. Brimmer, 31, and Lauren Ashley Lindsay, 25, were booked on suspicion of armed robbery of a bank and were denied bail in their initial appearance with U.S. District Magistrate Edward C. Voss on Friday afternoon.

The pair admitted robbing the Wells Fargo branch in a Fry's Grocery Store in the 100 block of West Combs Road in Queen Creek. Authorities said that the admission came during an interview with an FBI agent Thursday and that the pair subsequently confessed to three other bank robberies in the area this year.

Federal officials could neither confirm nor deny that Brimmer and Lindsay were the "Biker Duo Bandits" the FBI was looking for.

One of the robberies associated with the Biker bandits occurred on July 22 in Queen Creek, with the others coming on Oct. 29 and Nov. 7, both in Mesa.

The case broke for FBI agents after an anonymous caller saw information broadcast about the Nov. 13 robbery and phoned in a tip to federal authorities.

The heist occurred within view of surveillance cameras in the bank branch, in the grocery store and in the store's parking lot.

The tipster identified Brimmer and Lindsay as the two robbers, based on surveillance footage aired around the Valley. FBI agents were able to verify the identifications through a photo lineup presented to bank employees.

An FBI agent interviewed Brimmer and Lindsay on Thursday. Authorities said they admitted robbing the four banks and owning a Beretta handgun, which Mesa police subsequently recovered at the Queen Creek home the pair shared at the time of their arrest.

Brimmer was previously locked up for one year for sexual conduct with a minor, and was released in 2001, while Ashley's criminal history is limited to a series of minor traffic violations.

Banks around the state have already been robbed more in 2008 than last year, according to the FBI. Robbers have hit Arizona banks nearly 160 times this year, which surpasses last year's total of approximately 150 and could break the state's record set in 2005, when heists peaked between 150 and 200, said agent Manuel Johnson, an FBI spokesman.