3 Suspects in 27 Southland Bank Robberies Arrested

Three men suspected of committing at least 27 bank robberies this year in separate sprees in Los Angeles and in Orange County were in custody Friday.

The three alleged bandits, who apparently did not work in concert, were arrested within nine hours of each other on Thursday. They may have accounted for more than 20% of Los Angeles’ 71 bank robberies this year, said spokesmen for the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department.

“It was a bad day for the serial bank robber and a good day for us,” said Lt. Bruce Meyer of the LAPD’s Robbery and Homicide Division.

Police and FBI agents arrested Mark McAdoo, believed to be the “Ninja Bandit,” about 2 p.m. Thursday as he sat on a bus bench near Mansfield Avenue and Olympic Boulevard in the Wilshire District. He did not offer any resistance, Meyer said.

Authorities suspect that McAdoo, 22, of San Pedro was involved in at least seven robberies in Los Angeles and three in Orange County, said Meyer and FBI spokesman Jim Nielson. The Ninja nickname was coined after the briefcase-bearing bandit gave tellers holdup notes and then fled on a black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle taking at least $6,000.

Seven hours after McAdoo’s arrest, police detectives raided a motel party on South Vermont Avenue and arrested Howard A. Bonner, 59, on suspicion of bank robbery. Bonner, of no known address, is suspected of being the “Old-Timer Bandit,” an elderly looking holdup man who had committed a string of 11 robberies in Los Angeles.

The “Old-Timer Bandit” approached tellers and simulated a gun. Losses topped $20,000, Meyer said.

Both arrests grew out of investigations of the earlier robberies, authorities said. FBI and city police are trying to determine whether the two bandits may have been involved in other robberies.

Meanwhile, Burbank police motor officer Steven Castleberry followed William Wallace Brown, 56, as he jogged for more than a mile through quiet residential streets after he allegedly held up a Bank of America branch on West Olive Avenue in Burbank before determining that he was the man who held up the bank and took him into custody.

Police Lt. Joe Latta said that Brown “has an extensive arrest record, has several aliases and is wanted on several ‘armed and dangerous’ arrest warrants.”

However, no weapon was used in the Burbank robbery and none was recovered. The money was recovered but police and FBI agents declined to give the amount.

However, Latta said Brown was wanted by various agencies for at least six bank jobs.