‘No-Joke’ Bank Bandit Suspect Surrenders

A man suspected of being the “No-Joke Bandit,” a bank robber sought in connection 35 holdups in three counties over the past seven months, turned himself in to Buena Park police Thursday evening, authorities said.

The man, identified as Russell (Rusty) Eugene Gadd, 25, claiming that he was the so-called “No Joke Bandit,” turned himself in to police at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, FBI spokesman Fred Reagan said.

Gadd, arrested on suspicion of violating probation on another earlier, unspecified offense, was taken to the Riverside County Jail on Thursday night, Reagan said. Gadd, whose last known address was in Buena Park, was being held without bail until he could be brought before a federal magistrate in connection with the bank robbery charges, Reagan said. Reagan said that when Gadd turned himself in at the Buena Park Police Department, he indicated “that he was doing so because of the extensive pressure by massive media attention.”

Before his surrender, Reagan said the FBI had already received a variety of calls naming Gadd as the suspect wanted in the spree of bank robberies based on publication of the robber’s photograph in Southland newspapers.

“We had numerous responses (from people) . . . many of (whom) identified the photo of the fellow we call the ‘No-Joke Bandit’ as Mr. Gadd,” Reagan said.

On Tuesday, the FBI had appealed for help in capturing the so-called “No-Joke Bandit,” who is responsible for stealing an estimated $70,000 from up to 35 banks and savings and loans in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties in the last seven months.

“This guy is called the No-Joke Bandit because he usually tells them: ‘This is a robbery and it’s no joke,’ ” FBI spokesman Jim Neilson said earlier this week.

More than half of the robberies believed to be the work of the bandit were committed in Anaheim, Buena Park, El Toro, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, Los Alamitos, Orange, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano and Westminster.

The most recent “No-Joke” bank robbery was committed in San Clemente on Monday, officials said.