“Ho-Hum” Bandit Reward Less Than Ho-Hum

The "Ho-Hum Bandit" is wanted in connection with 12 heists, according to the FBI.

Most bank robbers get their nicknames based on distinguishing characteristics.

The Grandma Bandit had silver hair. The Knievel Bandit walked into the bank wearing a motorcycle helmet. The Painter's Mask Bandit... well, he wore a painter's mask.

But what do you call the bandit with no distinguishing features?

The "Ho-Hum Bandit," so named because his bland appearance, hit his 12th Southern California bank over the weekend, this time in Laguna Beach, according to police.

The Saturday heist at the U.S. Bank branch at 310 Glenneyre St. marked the second time in a month that the man targeted that location, said FBI Special Agent Chris Gicking.

On Friday, he held up a Citibank branch in Corona del Mar at 3021 E. Coast Highway -- the same branch he robbed June 11, according to the FBI.

Gicking theorized that the bandit is robbing the same banks out of convenience. In fact, FBI agents predicted the subject would hit the Laguna Beach bank again.

Local

Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.

Everything you need to know about the Dodgers Opening Week at Chavez Ravine

California's commercial Dungeness crab season will end April 8 to protect whales

"We just didn't think it would happen so soon," Gicking said.

Police responded to the hold-up call at 9:22 a.m. Saturday. The suspect handed a teller a note, demanding cash and saying he had a gun, and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, Gicking said.

The suspect is a white man in his 30s, about 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-9, and 160 to 170 pounds, with a thin build, brown hair and blue eyes, Gicking said. He is fair skinned and usually wears some type of ball cap, faded blue jeans and white sneakers. At least twice, he has worn a Dale Earnhardt Jr. baseball cap.

His most recent stickup before the last two in Orange County was at a Bank of America branch in Cathedral City in Riverside County on July 15, Gicking said.

But most of his holdups have been in San Diego County, Gicking said. His spree appears to have begun Feb. 27 with a robbery of a National Bank branch in San Diego.

A $10,000 reward has been offered for the suspect's arrest. Citibank has put up $9,000 and the FBI is contributing $1,000.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
Contact Us