A Woodbury man who robbed two banks in Woodbury and one in Oakdale just up the road from his workplace — and was arrested after tips to police — was sentenced to five years of probation on Wednesday.
Zahir Mohamednazir Bachelani, 39, pleaded guilty Dec. 3 in Washington County District Court to three counts of felony simple robbery in connection with the bank robberies on three days between June 14 and Aug. 3. He did not brandish a gun, but did tell a bank teller in a note in one robbery that he had one. In total, he made off with just over $5,000.
Zahir Mohamednazir Bachelani (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
Judge Juanita Freeman followed a plea agreement and stayed a nearly two-year prison sentence for five years, during which time he will be on supervised probation. He had served 213 days in jail.
Bachelani was tracked down and arrested Aug. 5 while leaving work, the same day Woodbury police posted on Facebook four photos from bank surveillance video and received calls to its tip line identifying Bachelani as a suspect.
Later in the day, Bachelani told police in an interview he carried out the robberies due to financial troubles from medical bills, the charges say.
But Bachelani held a secret, which he divulged to Eden Prairie police the next day under questioning at the Washington County jail, according to Hennepin County District Court charging documents.
Bachelani was identified as a suspect in a March 28 robbery at Old National Bank, near the Eden Prairie Center shopping mall, after investigators compared bank surveillance photos to those circulated by Woodbury police. He admitted to the robbery, saying it was his first.
‘I am armed with a gun’
According to the Aug. 6 Washington County complaint, Woodbury police responded to Huntington Bank at 7377 Currell Blvd. about 4:30 p.m. June 14 on a report of a bank robbery in progress.
A man — wearing a dark red shoulder-length wig, long black and purple dress, medical facemask, medical gloves and knee-high black boots — passed a note to a teller that read: “This is a robbery. You are going to take all of the $100 bills from your drawer and place them in an envelope. My partner is waiting outside. Once I leave, my partner will leave. Do as I say and no one will get hurt.” He made off with $700.
About two weeks later, on June 29, Oakdale police responded to U.S. Bank at 7620 10th St. N. around 11:15 a.m. for a hold-up alarm. A man wearing a medical facemask and medical gloves gave a note to a teller that read: “This is a robbery. My partner is waiting outside. Take $4,000 out of your drawer and place it in an envelope. Once I leave my partner will leave. Shake your head if you understand and no one will get hurt.” He was given $4,000 and left in a silver Hyundai Sonata.
Bank surveillance video shows Zahir Mohamednazir Bachelani robbing a bank in Washington County last year. (Courtesy of Woodbury Police Department)
Woodbury police were called to Wells Fargo at 7525 Currell Blvd., just west of Huntington Bank, about 9:30 a.m. Aug. 3. A man wearing a medical facemask and medical gloves handed over a note that read: “(T)his is a robbery. Place $6,000 in an envelope. I am armed with a gun. Do not speak. Do not say anything to anyone.” He made off with $370.
After the tip-line calls, police discovered Bachelani owned a 2015 silver Hyundai Sonata and that he worked at a medical clinic just up Helmo Avenue from the U.S. Bank. Officers saw him leaving work around 5 p.m. and arrested him. He was wearing blue Under Armour shoes that matched those the robber wore during the Aug. 3 robbery.
A search of his home turned up a dark red wig and clothing also seen in bank video, including the black and purple dress, according to police.
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In his Aug. 6 interview with Eden Prairie police, Bachelani said he lived near Old National Bank at the time and picked it at random on March 28, according to the Sept. 4 criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. Bachelani, who passed a note to the teller and made off with $6,824, told investigators he was behind on rent and afraid of being evicted.
Civil filings show Bachelani was ordered in housing court to pay an Eden Prairie apartment building owner nearly $5,400 in missed rent payments in July 2023 and a Woodbury apartment building owner more than $3,700 on June 11, three days before the first robbery in that city.
Bachelani’s Hennepin County case remains pending, with a next court hearing scheduled for March 24.
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