Suspect in 15 Bank Robberies Is Arrested

A man suspected of committing at least 15 armed bank robberies in Southern California since November--two of them last week in Burbank--will be turned over to federal authorities today, officials said.

The suspect, John David Thompson, 49, who is on parole after spending seven years in a federal prison in Arizona for bank robbery, was arrested about noon Saturday. Patrol officers spotted him in a motel parking lot in the 9200 block of Sepulveda Boulevard in Sepulveda, Los Angeles Police Detective Larry Delosh said.

Thompson, whom police had dubbed “Old Man Robber” because “he looks about 70 years old,” is being held at Van Nuys Jail without bail because he was on parole when arrested, Delosh said.

The bank robberies that Thompson is suspected of committing occurred in Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. In most of those cases, the robber entered the bank about noon, showed a teller a handgun in the waistband of his pants and demanded money, Delosh said. No one was injured in any of the crimes.

Authorities would not say how much was stolen altogether, but the largest amount in a single holdup was $8,200 from a Los Angeles bank, Delosh said.

Delosh said Thompson robbed the banks--a federal offense--to support a heroin habit that “made him look a lot older than he is.”

The holdups of Burbank’s Hancock Savings & Loan Assn., robbed last Monday, and Western Security Bank, robbed Thursday, are among those that police attribute to Thompson, Los Angeles Police Detective Joe Getherall said.

Based on bank camera photographs from those robberies and others, police identified Thompson, who they said uses many aliases, and distributed a picture taken of him while he was in prison. He was released on parole about 2 1/2 years ago, Delosh said.

“We knew he was staying somewhere in the Valley, so we gave our officers pictures of him, and that paid off,” Delosh said.

When Thompson was arrested, police found a large amount of cash in his motel room and clothes that matched the description provided by witnesses to the robberies, Delosh said. The handgun used in the crimes, however, was not found.