Turns out we may have been pursuing an urban myth.

Reporter Serene Branson, of KCBS/KCAL, told me that she was assigned to look into the case of the Pasadena “Panty Bandit” after a producer at the station read a blog entry here earlier today.

So Serene calls the Pasadena cops and they tell her the story is a rumor. A detective there said he polled all the detectives in the department and none are looking into reports of a “Panty Bandit” raiding dressers and closets in upper-class neighborhoods.

“An urban myth,” she said. “They said a similar story circulated around town about a month ago.”

Maybe it’s a good thing we only considered the story a brief. Here’s the “Gridiron Girls” blog, which has a page devoted to Serene and an interview.