Police are on the hunt for a thief who held up a Linden bank in the middle of the afternoon.

Police say a man walked into a Wachovia Bank around 11:30 a.m. Saturday and handed the teller a note. The robber managed to escape, even though the police station was a block away from the bank.

When residents learned the robber was wearing a hat, some believed the culprit was the serial bank robber referred to by police as "the Mad Hatter." The man has robbed 15 banks since September, each time wearing a different hat.

Police are using the surveillance video of the robbery in the investigation. They say the robber of the Wachovia bank appears younger than the Mad Hatter. Still, residents fear it may be a copycat of a bank robber police have not been able to catch.