A man found dead on an Encinitas beach early Tuesday morning has been identified as Christopher Andrew Gibson, a 32-year-old man who had been convicted of robbing banks in San Diego County in his twenties.
Gibson’s body was found early Tuesday near Stonesteps Beach in Encinitas, the county Medical Examiner’s Office said. Emergency teams responded and confirmed the death.
It is unknown where Gibson resided before his death. The Medical Examiner’s Office is continuing to investigate to try to determine his manner of death, a spokesman said.
In 2015, Gibson pleaded guilty in federal court robbing three banks in San Diego County by presenting cash to cashiers. Authorities nicknamed him the “bearded bandit” because of the disheveled facial hair he had while committing the first two robberies.
According to federal officials, Gibson took more than $ 7,600 in the three robberies, one in San Diego and two in Vista.
FBI officials said Gibson committed the first of three robberies – on October 7, 2014 – within hours of being released from the George Bailey Detention Center, where he was being held on unrelated charges. He also pleaded guilty to robbing a bank on October 14 and November 6.
He was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison in 2015 for bank robberies, federal court records show. In December 2019, he was accused of absconding for failing to appear at a social reintegration center, and in January 2020 he was sentenced to 10 months in prison on that charge.
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