Santa Maria Police, as well as Sheriff’s Department officials, are releasing new photos in hopes of generating an identification from someone who knows the suspect. He has now robbed nine banks in total, including the four locations northwest of the Santa Clarita Valley.

The man whom detectives are trying to identify is believed to be about 6 feet tall, his late 50-60s, heavy set (about 230 pounds), and always uses a note. The suspect walks into a bank around closing time, acts as a customer and, when it’s his turn, he hands the teller a note indicating he has a weapon and demanding money.

Once he receives the money, he then takes the note back, apologizes, and leaves with his haul.

Detectives now believe he’s using his original means of escape from the scene, a champagne-colored, hard-top PT Cruiser.

He struck again around 5 p.m., which has been his usual M.O., according to officials.

The Coast Hills Credit Union at 2264 S. Bradley in Santa Maria was robbed around closing time, and the suspect was able to flee the location in a champagne-colored hard-top PT Cruiser, with aftermarket wheels with “spokes.” (Detectives reported that he recently changed the wheels, after a recent report that he might be using a different vehicle.)

He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses at the Santa Maria robbery, as he has in all the others.

In Santa Clarita, he’s consistently stolen from a “U-shaped” corridor around The Old Road, between Lyons Avenue and Magic Mountain Parkway, said detectives with the Major Crimes Unit.

Also troubling investigators, there’s about 20 banks and credit unions along this Santa Clarita route alone, in addition to the stretch of road between Santa Clarita and Santa Barbara. Detectives suspect the man lives somewhere in between — he’s also robbed banks in Carpinteria, Goleta and Montecito — and are hoping someone who knows the man or recognizes his car will phone in a tip.

As in several of the other recent bank robberies, no one was hurt in the incident, and based on preliminary information, it appears the customers likely were again unaware of the incident until it was over.

“The notes are all the same,” said Detective Berry, describing the M.O. in both Newhall robberies, in a previous interview. “He demands the money, says he has a gun and, generally, apologizes after he leaves.”