'Harry Potter Bandit' said he was working at Amazon, living with parents' friends, police say

MILL CREEK, Wash. – The man suspected of being “The Harry Potter Bandit” told his parents he was working at Amazon and living with friends of his theirs when he was arrested, court documents allege.

Caleb Andrew Dierlam, 20, was charged with three counts of bank robbery and the FBI said he is suspected in six bank robberies from late August until early November.



According to charging documents:

Dierlam was sitting at a Starbucks in Lynwood on Dec. 1 when somebody recognized him from surveillance photos they’d seen on Facebook. Police took his picture and identified him, eventually learning that he lived in a house in Mill Creek.

About two weeks later, they went to the house and talked to the owners, who said Dierlam’s parents were old friends.

The homeowners said Dierlam’s parents had asked them to give Dierlam a place to stay after he told them he got a job at Amazon, and they were charging him $125 a month to live in one of their bedrooms.

When detectives showed them a picture from a robbery in Everett, the woman started to cry and eventually the couple said they were almost certain Dierlam was the suspect.

Detectives got a search warrant, and found a makeup kit that would’ve allowed Dierlam to achieve the distinctive disguise the suspect wore during his robberies.

An FBI agent then interviewed Dierlam’s parents in Indianapolis, who also identified him as the suspect.

The FBI said it has not confirmed that Dierlam worked at Amazon.