Suspect Arrested in 40 Robberies Tied to ‘Underwear Bandit’

A Riverside County man, pursued and arrested after the robbery of a San Gabriel Valley ice cream store, was jailed as the suspected “Underwear Bandit” when 10 pairs of women’s panties were found in his car, authorities said Monday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Smith said more than 40 robberies in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties have been committed by a man who orders female employees to give him their panties.

Smith said Bruce Allen Lyons, 33, of Moreno Valley was captured late Sunday night shortly after the holdup of a Baskin-Robbins store in the 18000 block of Colima Road in Rowland Heights. Employees gave officers a description of the robber.

Spotted Without License Plates

Shortly after the description was broadcast, Lyons was spotted in a car without license plates driving north on Fullerton Road, Smith said. Deputies Larry McCabe and Chris Knox tried to pull him over, but he sped east on the Pomona Freeway.

Smith said Lyons lost control of his car and crashed into an off-ramp curb when he tried to leave the freeway at Fairway Drive. He was treated at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina for minor injuries.

In the car, deputies said, they found a Baskin-Robbins money bag containing about $300. They also found a toy replica of a Colt .45-caliber pistol, as well as the panties and what Smith described only as “articles of clothing used by the suspect in robberies.”

Smith said deputies noted “several similarities” between the Sunday night holdup and those committed by the so-called Underwear Bandit, who has struck stores and small businesses, such as beauty shops, during the last 2 months.

Witnesses in the previous robberies have reported that after ordering women to remove their undergarments at gunpoint, the Underwear Bandit has performed sexual acts with the underwear before fleeing with the garments and cash.

By the middle of October, the Underwear Bandit was believed responsible for more than 25 such incidents in Orange and Los Angeles counties alone. A man with the same method and description held up a Seal Beach boutique Oct. 11 and a discount shoe store in Anaheim on Oct. 10.

Some of the previous robberies have occurred in Garden Grove, Fullerton, Orange and Santa Ana, police have said.

Investigators have been baffled by the robber’s sexual motives, which are usually associated with those of cat burglars who sneak into people’s homes but are uncommon among armed robbers, according to Garden Grove Police Sgt. Phil Mason.

Police feared that the robber could become violent if his victims refused to follow orders.

The robber, who was photographed by a surveillance camera during an Aug. 23 robbery, was described as being 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing about 178 pounds and having sandy blond hair.

According to records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Lyons has brown hair, hazel eyes, stands 6 feet tall and weighs 187 pounds.

Lyons was held at the Walnut Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of robbery. Bail was set at $100,000.