He was one of Scott Scurlock’s accomplices who helped him rob more than 18 banks in Seattle in the 1990s and features in Netflix‘s new documentary How to Rob a Bank. Where Mark Biggins is now is a far cry from his criminal past having served 21 years for armed robbery.
Scurlock, also known as the “Hollywood Bandit,” was an infamous bank robber in the 1990s. His nickname came from his use of elaborate disguises during his heists, which often included makeup, wigs, and other props to alter his appearance.
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Scurlock and his accomplices, Biggins and Steve Meyers, committed a series of meticulously planned bank robberies in the Seattle area, making off with millions of dollars. But the Hollywood Bandit’s life of crime came to an end in 1996 after a failed robbery led to a dramatic standoff with police. He was eventually tracked to a hideout in a houseboat on the Hood Canal, where he took his own life as law enforcement closed in. His accomplices, however, survived the ordeal. Here’s where Mark Biggins is now.
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Where is Mark Biggins now?
Mark Biggins was released from prison in 2015. Not much is known about his whereabouts but he is said to be living a quiet life in Olympia, Washington. He was one of the subjects interviewed for Netflix’s How to Rob a Bank and described his relationship with Scurlock over the years.
Scurlock and Biggins robbed their first bank on June 25, 1992. The pair had planned to take a car from someone in the bank as their get-away vehicle, which they did, but Biggins was so nervous that he flooded the engine.
They were forced to flee on foot, causing a chase by vicious dogs. It was so stressful that Biggins swore he’d quit but, as he notes in the documentary, “Once you do Cross The Rubicon and start living that life, you have to lie to everybody about everything. Everybody you care about, everybody you meet.”
Four years later would be their final job. Scurlock boldly suggested they hit five banks in one night but that was downgraded to one after Seattle police had advised every bank to put electronic tracers on stolen money. On Thanksgiving Eve 1996 at around 5.30 pm, they arrived at Seafirst Bank, which they believed to have around $3 to 4 million on hand that day.
They escaped but got stuck in Thanksgiving holiday traffic. Police identified the van and surrounded it. Police claim Meyers got out of the van with a rifle and started to shoot; Meyers maintains it was law enforcement that shot first.
Meyers and Biggins were shot in the arms as a result and were immobilized. “Outside of the van, I was in and out of consciousness,” Biggins recalled. “I remember Mike Magan opening one of my eyelids checking to see if I was living or dead. I remember having a sense of relief that it’s finally over. I can let it go now. I don’t have to live like this anymore.”
The two men were taken into custody and then to the hospital. Scurlock, however, eluded police for 24 hours before killing himself the next day as police closed in. “Scott and I had several discussions about ‘What are you gonna do if you get caught?’ And he’d always say, ‘I’m not going to prison. I’m gonna head for the white light,’” Biggins recalled. “I’ve read the victim impact statements and some bank tellers and some customers in the bank were truly traumatized by the whole experience and I regret that. Sincerely.”
“I woke up the next morning in the hospital and the TV was going the news was carpeted with us, and my name and Scott Scurlock from Olympia, Washington, deceased. A self-inflicted gunshot wound and I looked and I just go, ‘Thank God,’” Meyers recalled.
“The shootout was the end, not only the end of our endeavors but the end of a certain life that I had. We were like two comets that came together and we met up and we started flying through the f—king universe and suddenly, boom! It all busted up in one second.”
For his role in Scurlock’s robberies, Biggins pleaded guilty to charges of armed bank robbery, conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, and use of firearms during an assault on a federal officer in 1997. It’s believed Scurlock and his accomplices stole around $2 million, which is around $4 million in 2024.
