Man formerly known as 'underwear bandit' now renamed 'shoe bandit' following arrest for thefts

A man with a long criminal history of stealing women's clothing, underwear and shoes in Iowa has apparently made his way to Florida and is accused now of doing the same thing again. Over the past week, multiple Pinellas Park families have been victimized by the man who apparently has been going up to families who like to leave shoes outside their homes, and is stealing the shoes, sometimes replacing those shoes with other shoes.



Two of the victims shared their home surveillance video which clearly shows a man running up to their homes and taking shoes. Fed up by the strange criminal activity, one family took action into their own hands, saying they watched and waited as the man returned again, catching him in the act, then confronting and restraining him as they called police officers. According to Pinellas Park police, the man responsible is Rusty Wayne Sills, 56 of Largo, was arrested on Saturday morning after the family caught him.



The van that Sills drove to the Pinellas Park home had approximately 100 pairs of women's shoes inside, according to police. Despite the fact that he denied every being to the woman's home, officers did recover the shoes that were stolen from her home on Thursday. Sills is charged with burglary and remains in the Pinellas County Jail and his bond is set at $10,000. Pinellas Park police say there are several more similar cases regarding the theft of women's shoes.


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Records show Sills was once described as an underwear bandit in West Des Moines, Iowa. 10 years ago he was arrested for allegedly stealing hundreds of pairs of women's underwear and shoes from an apartment complex's laundry room. Back in 1979, West Des Mois police charged Sills with burglary of women's underwear. In 1999, it was reported he stole shoes from female students at Iowa State University, where ISU Police reportedly found 185 pairs of shoes in his Des Moines apartment. He was convicted of theft that time, as well as many any other times in Iowa and in Florida over the past 30 years or so.