BELLINGHAM - Police have released a surveillance photo of the man who robbed the Fairhaven branch of Banner Bank on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 21.

The man appears to be the same suspect who robbed the same bank on July 25, said Bellingham Police Lt. Rick Sucee.

The man walked into the bank at 1414 12th St. about 1:23 p.m. Tuesday sporting a long black ponytail and wearing dark sunglasses, a dark baseball cap and a scarf around his face.

Unlike the July robbery, in which the male suspect displayed a semi-automatic pistol, the robber on Tuesday did not show any weapon when he demanded money from the teller.

The man left on a black-and-white bicycle, which was later found next to Lower Padden Creek, west of Bellingham Tennis club.

A federal helicopter helped police search for the man, but they were unable to find him.

Both robberies occurred around 1:30 p.m., and both times the suspect got away on a bicycle.

When asked if he thought the robber might have tried to catch the 1:50 p.m. Greyhound bus that leaves for Seattle each day from the Bellingham Amtrak station, a few blocks from where the bicycle was found Tuesday, Sucee said police are unsure how the suspect escaped in both robberies.

The suspect was described as a thin white male in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall. In addition the ponytail, sunglasses, cap and scarf, he was wearing a sky blue jersey-style shirt with dark blue sleeves, dark pants, and dark shoes with white soles. The suspect may have a goatee and mustache.

A man by the same description robbed the same bank July 25. Police searched from downtown Bellingham to Teddy Bear Cove with the help of a federal border helicopter. In that case the suspect left the bank on a red mountain bike.

Anyone with information about either robbery is asked to call Bellingham police, 360-778-8800.