Serial Bandits Getting Caught Sooner : Bank Robberies in O.C. Decline Sharply

Orange County, known as one of the bank robbery capitals of America, last year experienced a dramatic decline in holdups, which the FBI attributes to quicker arrests of serial robbers.

From an all-time high of 366 in 1987, the number of bank robberies in the county dropped 21% in 1988 to 288. So far this year, there have been 91 holdups.

Robbers who commit 20 or more holdups before being caught are now “rare animals,” said Wylie B. (Bucky) Cox, head of the bank-robbery section of the FBI’s Orange County office.

Last year, the average number of holdups committed by Orange County bank robbers before capture was three, compared to seven in 1987.

Cox said the FBI and local police are “trying very hard to get the serial bank robbers off the street. . . . If we can’t get them off before 20 holdups, then the numbers will shoot back up.” One of their prime targets is a man authorities call Bald Eagle who has robbed 16 Southland banks, including 12 in Orange County, since Jan. 4.

Law enforcement officials attribute their improving record to a new program, the special Bank Robbers Apprehension Taskforce, or BRAT, which has concentrated on publicizing suspects and coordinating the efforts of police agencies.

Cox cited two recent examples of the BRAT strategy’s success.

Russell Gadd surrendered after his picture appeared in a local newspaper last summer. Gadd is alleged to be the No-Joke bandit, known for announcing a robbery and insisting: “It’s no joke.” Gadd has been indicted on 21 charges of robbery.

And Manuel Garcia Bracamonte, who escaped from the federal penitentiary at Lompoc on April 21 and is charged with robbing a Fountain Valley bank on May 16, was captured last Tuesday at a motel in Wilmington, Calif. Bracamonte, who is also suspected of robbing five other banks in Riverside and Los Angeles counties during the last month, was identified after his picture appeared in a local newspaper.

Southern California, with many bank branches and an extensive freeway system offering easy access and quick getaways, accounts for one in four bank robberies nationally, excluding San Diego and Inyo counties, according to Jim Neilson, FBI spokesman in Los Angeles.

In Orange County, bank robberies occurred most often last year in areas under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Department (48), followed by Anaheim (26), Santa Ana (25), Fullerton (23), and Buena Park, Orange, Garden Grove and Huntington Beach (17 each), according to FBI Special Agent David R. Struck.

While bank robberies were decreasing in Orange County, they were surging in Los Angeles, climbing from 662 in 1987 to 806 in 1988, Neilson said. Capturing bank robbers in Los Angeles is difficult because Los Angeles “is so large and so spread out,” Cox said.

In almost nine out of 10 Orange County bank robberies, a suspect is identified, caught and convicted, Cox said.

“Since I arrived at this office in January, 1987, I don’t know of one instance when someone charged with bank robbery has not been convicted,” Cox said.

BRAT was formed as robberies peaked in late 1987.

The FBI’s Santa Ana office formed the group to increase coordination and information-sharing between the FBI and local law enforcement. Last month, sheriff’s investigator Dennis Sulka joined the five FBI agents working on bank robberies in the county.

The biggest help in the crackdown has been high-quality surveillance photographs taken by cameras inside banks, Neilson said. Pictures and eyewitness accounts assist in identification of suspects, the critical step in apprehension of serial bank robbers, officials said.

The distribution of pictures and information has become more rapid, flyers on bank robbery suspects have been distributed to liquor stores and motels, and a 24-hour Bank Robbery Hotline--(800) 442-2244--has been established, all thanks to the BRAT program, officials said.

Cox said more frequent rewards, ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, offered by the California Bankers Assn., have also helped in identifying suspects.

Bank robbers receive headlines because their crimes are dramatic and fraught with danger. But for banks, holdups are much less costly than commercial loans gone bad, credit-card fraud or internal theft, according to C. Howie Hodges II, a security and risk manager for the American Bankers Assn. in Washington.

Yet, bank robberies are the scariest form of loss because there is always the possibility of violence and loss of life. The risk is increased because a large proportion of bank robbers, possibly 80% to 85%, are substance abusers, the FBI’s Cox said.

“Our main concern is to minimize the risk to employees and customers and to try and prevent the escalation of violence,” said Steve Ward, chairman of the Bank Security Committee of the California Bankers Assn.

Telephone numbers for the FBI are: a 24-hour hot line, (213) 477-6565; the local BRAT number, (714) 542-8825, and the anonymous Bank Robber Hotline, (800) 442-2244.