‘Lucky’ Break Leads to Suspect in Wave of Bank Robberies

A 35-year-old Santa Ana man was arrested without incident Wednesday in connection with nine bank robberies in seven Orange County cities since September, authorities said.

A team of Irvine police officers and FBI agents arrested Rickey Joseph Villa shortly after he checked in to a motel in Santa Ana about noon.

Irvine Police Lt. Mike White said officials tracked the suspect to the motel after a woman he had been with was arrested driving a pickup truck that matched the description of a vehicle seen leaving several of the bank robberies, including one Tuesday in Garden Grove.

Bail Set at $25,000

“When we learned that the pickup had been found, we knew we had a chance of making an arrest,” said White, who added that Irvine police were involved because three of the robberies had occurred in their community. “It’s nice to get lucky once in a while.”

Villa was booked into Orange County Jail on robbery charges. Bail was set at $25,000.

Police believe Villa, working alone, may have held up nine banks to support a drug habit. When he was arrested, White said police found a small quantity of heroin, a syringe and needles in the motel room.

Detectives also recovered about $200, a fraction of the estimated $7,000 he is accused of taking in the daylight heists.

Based on eyewitness descriptions and photographs from bank cameras, White said police have linked the suspect with bank robberies in Anaheim, Orange, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Mission Viejo, El Toro and three in Irvine.

In each case, White said the suspect walked into the bank, approached a teller and demanded money. He never showed a weapon, but threatened to shoot if his demands were not met. Nobody was hurt during the holdups, and White said no weapon was found when Villa’s motel room was searched.

Although police suspected the string of robberies was the work of one person, White said it wasn’t until Tuesday night about midnight that investigators got the break they needed when the California Highway Patrol stopped a gray Toyota pickup on the San Diego Freeway in Costa Mesa.

The truck and its license number matched the description of a vehicle seen speeding away earlier Tuesday from a holdup at the a Security Pacific Bank branch at Valley View Street and Lampson Avenue in Garden Grove. It also fit the description of a truck seen leaving a Nov. 16 holdup at a Security Pacific Bank branch on MacArthur Boulevard in Irvine, White said.

The driver was a woman, who had been staying at a Costa Mesa motel with Villa, White said. When police went to the motel, Villa had taken a cab and left. Through the cab company, police traced his movements, which eventually led to the Santa Ana motel.

Villa was on parole after serving 14 months in state prison on a forgery conviction, the state Department of Corrections said. He was released from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo in December 1986 and then settled in Santa Ana, White said.