To Do: Rob Bank In Sarasota, Then Get A Manicure

SARASOTA - The bank robber's getaway went smoothly for about half a block.

  Kevin Shelton

But as he ran north on Pineapple Avenue downtown, the loot exploded, shooting red dye everywhere.

Police say the robber took shelter in a nearby salon, where he learned how hard it is to get hair extensions without an appointment.

Kevin Shelton, 37, whom police identified as the robber, told the stylist he wanted a manicure and a new mane of hair like Johnny Depp's in the movie "Blow."

"I told him we couldn't do the extensions," said the stylist, Erin Winick, 32. "I said it was impossible. It takes too long."

She only had time to manicure one of his hands before he was arrested.

Sarasota police say the robbery Thursday at M&I Bank, 240 S. Pineapple Ave., started in the ordinary way.

A man walked in about 2 p.m. and slipped the teller a note: "$30,000 are else. Have a nice day."

The money was booby-trapped, also standard procedure, and when it exploded the robber dropped a pile of red-stained $5 and $10 bills in front of Dea Boutique and Spa at 124 S. Pineapple Ave.

He kept running.

A few blocks away, Nicole Salon on Palm has signs posted outside advertising a $15 manicure special -- just ask for Erin.

Winick said Shelton calmly walked in the salon, flashed his stained hands, said he needed help. And that he wanted to look like Johnny Depp.

Shelton immediately threw down a $50 tip, she said.

"He was telling me that he was a football player for the Arizona Cardinals and he's here painting boats," Winick said. "I thought, isn't it football season now? Some people just make up stuff, so I don't judge."

As Shelton made small talk, the police were putting together a description of the robber.

Police Chief Peter Abbott was one the first to respond to the robbery because he was on Main Street.

About five minutes after Shelton entered the salon, officers stopped in and asked owner Nicole Bociek if she "saw a white guy run by here wearing camouflage pants?"

The officers stepped outside, and salon regular Eleanor Fivelson, 78, knew something was wrong.

She started looking for a weapon of some kind.

"I went to get some hot coffee and my cane," Fivelson said. "I thought I could throw it in his face if I had to. I saw my cane and said it wouldn't hurt to have that, either."

No coffee, though. All Nicole's had was bottled water. She wound up not needing the coffee.

The officers walked back into the salon, at 65 S. Palm Ave., and arrested Shelton without incident.

Twenty-two minutes had passed since the robbery.

Winick figured she would lose the $50 tip.

"Too bad it was the bank's money," she said.

Business quickly returned to normal.

The owner of a nearby dance studio said the buzz in the salon made her jealous that Shelton did not want dance lessons.

Shelton, a Sarasota resident, was charged with robbery.

"He left his sweatshirt and bandanna behind," salon owner Bociek said. "We have his cuticles here, if they need his DNA."