Man admitted to three robberies while wearing race-changing disguise

A man living in Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, admitted on Monday that he committed a carjacking and two quick bank robberies in a disguise so realistic that witnesses described him as an unmasked white man, even though he was black. In January 2014, Solomon Zemichael Teklie carjacked a woman, robbed a bank, robbed a second bank, then was pulled over and arrested by police. The three robberies and arrest all took place within 37 minutes. Through it all, the 39-year-old Teklie wore a disguise that fooled everyone.

“I don’t know where this mask was made, I don’t know where it came from, but it’s uncanny how much it looks like a real person,” said Crown prosecutor Carrie-Ann Downey. “It was so realistic that each witness on this file thought that Mr. Teklie was white. He is not white.” Teklie wore a winter cap and sunglasses over the mask. The court heard Teklie forced Caroline Ombago from her Honda Civic in a parking lot with a pellet gun at around 11am. Ombago thought the gun was real. The robbery, Ombago wrote in a victim impact statement, left her sleepless and unable to trust. Fearful, she has since moved out of Edmonton.
Minutes after the carjacking, Teklie walked into the Bank of Montreal in Londonderry Mall and showed a teller his pellet gun. Teklie was given $1,000 in cash and fled the bank. He drove to a CIBC branch on 97th Street and again showed a teller his pellet gun. “You have 30 seconds to give me the money,” he said. Teklie was given $100 in $10 bills and ran outside to his stolen car. After the robberies, bank employees described Teklie as a white man, though two of them noticed he had “damaged” or “strange” skin. Minutes later, police spotted the vehicle Ombago had reported stolen. Teklie was compliant as he was ordered from the vehicle and arrested. The cash and mask were in the car. “This was a planned spree,” Downey said.
“Mr. Teklie had a plan. It might not have been a good plan, but it was a plan.” In a police interview, Teklie told officers he was addicted to cocaine and hoped to be deported. Defence lawyer Deborah Hatch said Teklie, originally from Ethiopia, came to Canada from Africa and was in a Kenyan refugee camp for years. Due to his lack of documents, he is stateless and may not be deported after he serves his sentence. He is currently a permanent resident of Canada. “He had a tragic and violent childhood marked by death and aggression most of us will never see,” Hatch said. Teklie apologized to the court when it was his turn to speak. “I’m truly sorry for my actions. That’s all I can say.” He pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery. Teklie is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 23. He is currently in custody.