Flashback Monday: Reston's Own Serial Bank Robber Oddly Chose Not to Call Himself the "Brown's Chapel Bandit"

It is a truth universally acknowledged that before the planned community that was Reston rose Babel-like from the wild hills and hollers of western Fairfax in the 1960s, the denizens of the land that would someday become manicured clusters and (for now) golf courses were, to put it nicely, homicidal nudists. But did you know that the fertile, Russet Brown soil of Hunter Mill also produced one of the most prolific bank robbers in U.S. history?

Scott Scurlock, born William Scott Scurlock and nicknamed the "Hollywood Bandit" or simply "Hollywood", was a bank robber in the state of Washington during the 1990s. He was a master of disguise, using Hollywood quality make-up he successfully robbed dozens of banks in the Seattle area. He killed himself after police caught up to him following a botched robbery which led to a shootout. The number of robberies, 15 in total, and the amounts stolen, almost $2.3 million, made him one of the most prolific bank robbers in U.S. history.

Scurlock was apparently born in 1955 in Reston, even though Reston didn't exist at that point. So was he a time-traveling bank robber? Apparently no, though this biography doesn't shed much light on his pre-Reston upbringing:

Scott had three sisters, two older and one younger. Although religious, his parents were extremely permissive and Scott grew up without guidelines, never developing a moral compass. He understood the difference between right and wrong, but didn’t care. Acquaintances described Scott’s personality as charming, charismatic, and extremely manipulative. Like Peter Pan, Scott never grew up or accepted adult responsibilities, but tenaciously clung to his adolescent interests and attitudes.

There's also a book about his exploits if you're into such things, though we think we'll stick to true crime stories that fall a bit closer to home, the end.