A 40-year-old St. Petersburg man with a history of federal bank robbery convictions is facing new charges after investigators say he robbed two Pinellas County banks while wearing a prosthetic mask designed to make him appear elderly.
David Sartin Jr. has been charged by federal criminal complaint with two counts of bank robbery involving incidents in Largo and St. Petersburg in August and September 2026. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the charges on Friday, October 16, 2026.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court on October 14, Sartin was arrested on September 19, 2026, by FBI agents and task force officers while arriving at a residence in the 6300 block of 8th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. He was driving a Toyota FJ Cruiser with three passengers when agents took him into custody while the vehicle was parked in the driveway.
Agents subsequently transported Sartin to the Pinellas County Jail. Jail records identify the DEA, ATF and FBI as the arresting agencies.
The federal investigation focused on two robberies: the August 24 robbery of Valley Bank at 1125 East Bay Drive in Largo and the September 15 robbery of Truist Bank at 6300 Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.
The first robbery occurred at approximately 1:34 p.m. on August 24. Investigators say a man wearing a straw hat, prosthetic face covering, dark sports jacket, green shirt, black gloves and blue jeans entered Valley Bank carrying a black umbrella.
The robber approached a teller and demanded money, specifically instructing the employee not to include dye packs. According to the affidavit, the man repeatedly told employees to hurry and told a bank manager, “I am good now get the cash in the bag.”
After obtaining approximately $2,900, the suspect reportedly told employees, “Until we meet again,” before leaving the bank. As he exited, he wedged a yellow wet-floor sign between the doors.
Surveillance footage from nearby businesses, a Largo police cruiser and a Pinellas County school bus helped investigators reconstruct the suspect’s movements before and after the robbery.
According to the affidavit, the suspect drove a black Toyota FJ Cruiser with a white roof to a nearby RaceTrac gas station before traveling through the Largo Central Park Nature Preserve. Investigators say the vehicle was parked in a secluded area while the suspect used a bicycle to approach the bank.
Following the robbery, the suspect fled on the bicycle, returned to the Toyota and drove away. Surveillance cameras captured the vehicle traveling through Largo and Pinellas Park before heading toward St. Petersburg.
Investigators traced the Toyota to Sartin’s father, Dave Sartin Sr., whose address was listed as 6310 8th Avenue North. Records showed the vehicle had previously been registered to Sartin Jr. before ownership was transferred to his father in June 2018.
On September 15, at approximately 4:41 p.m., another robbery occurred at Truist Bank on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.
Investigators say the suspect entered wearing a dark flat cap, eyeglasses, a sports jacket, white dress shirt, black gloves and a prosthetic elderly man’s mask featuring a gray mustache and whiskers.
The robber handed a teller a note demanding cash without dye packs and left with approximately $2,554.
One bank employee told investigators the suspect appeared to be wearing an elderly man’s mask because he did not move the way an older person would. Employees from the Largo robbery later reviewed surveillance photographs of the St. Petersburg suspect and identified him as the same individual who robbed their bank.
Federal investigators had already installed a covert surveillance camera near a residence on 62nd Street North where Sartin frequently stayed with his girlfriend.
The camera recorded the Toyota leaving the residence approximately 56 minutes before the Truist robbery and returning about 50 minutes afterward. Investigators observed a man resembling Sartin removing a bicycle from the vehicle.
The following day, September 16, St. Petersburg police detectives conducting surveillance reportedly watched Sartin remove the Toyota’s roof rack and spray paint its white roof black, changing the vehicle’s appearance.
Investigators subsequently recovered discarded materials covered in black spray paint and a Salvation Army receipt dated September 14 for clothing purchased the day before the second robbery.
On September 18, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Sartin for violating the conditions of his supervised release. According to the affidavit, the violations involved traveling outside the Middle District of Florida without permission and an arrest for theft at a Walmart in Lake City, South Carolina, on September 1.
Following Sartin’s September 19 arrest, investigators searched the Toyota and recovered electronic devices, a hard drive, credit cards in his name and a lock-picking set.
Additional searches of residences associated with Sartin uncovered clothing, a bicycle and bags similar to those seen in surveillance footage of the robberies.
While searching a guest room at his father’s home, investigators discovered another prosthetic elderly man’s mask and a journal reportedly written by Sartin.
The journal, dated January 1, 2021, bore the title “God’s Best friend is a Bank Robber! Uncle Henry Cops and Robbers the world through the eyes of a Bank Robber.”
One page contained a drawing of a character holding a mask with a handwritten reference to “Uncle Henry.”
Investigators also reviewed telephone calls Sartin made from the Pinellas County Jail to his father. During those conversations, Sartin discussed moving property into a storage unit and reportedly discouraged his father from looking through certain belongings.
The conversations helped investigators identify a Public Storage facility at 4500 34th Street North in St. Petersburg.
On September 25, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the storage unit and recovered what they described as evidence connecting Sartin to both robberies.
Among the items recovered were a prosthetic elderly man’s mask with gray facial hair, dark-framed glasses, gloves, a black plastic fake handgun, dress clothing, a dark flat cap and bags matching those observed in bank surveillance footage.
Investigators also obtained storage facility access records showing Sartin’s entry code had been used on both robbery dates, including approximately 37 minutes after the September 15 Truist robbery.
Federal court records detail Sartin’s history of bank robberies, including five robberies committed in Texas during 2016. Investigators say Sartin used similar elderly-man disguises during those crimes and utilized the same Toyota FJ Cruiser connected to the recent Pinellas County robberies.
During the Texas robberies, Sartin and an accomplice reportedly employed disguises, getaway vehicles and prearranged meeting locations to divide stolen money. Some incidents involved threats to bank employees and the display of a firearm.
Sartin was ultimately convicted of bank robbery in federal court and sentenced on February 7, 2018, to 121 months in federal prison. He began supervised release on May 16, 2025.
Federal records also reveal an earlier conviction stemming from an attempted bank robbery in Mississippi on September 11, 2006. In that incident, Sartin and two accomplices reportedly wore Halloween masks and disguises while trying to access a bank. Sartin pointed a firearm at an employee and demanded that she open the doors, but the group fled without obtaining any money.
Sartin pleaded guilty in January 2008 and received a 38-month federal prison sentence.
The latest investigation involved the FBI, Largo Police Department and St. Petersburg Police Department.
Sartin now faces two federal bank robbery charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
