Police Arrest Suspect in 7 Bank Robberies

A man identified by authorities as the “Tijuana bandit,” suspected in seven bank robberies, was arrested Wednesday after police trapped him in a carport shortly after the latest holdup.

Orange police arrested David Eugene Cabrera, 38, of Orange as he was parking his car in an apartment complex, Sgt. Art Romo said. Police said they suspected he was returning home from the robbery of American Interstate Bank, 675 S. Main St., Orange.

The “Tijuana bandit” was so dubbed because he wore a straw hat with “Tijuana” embroidered on it. In bank robberies on Monday and Wednesday, police believe the same robber wore a white, Panama-style hat.

“We know we got him,” said Bucky Cox, the FBI’s supervisory agent in Santa Ana.

About 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, a man matching the description of the bandit had been loitering in the bank for a few minutes before he handed a note, written on a withdrawal slip, to a bank teller. The robber then fled in a car.

Cox said that employees in the bank recognized the suspect immediately from photos that had appeared in newspapers.

“They knew he was going to rob them as soon as he was in (the bank),” Cox said.

Meanwhile, a bank employee called the Orange police, describing the suspect’s vehicle, a beige Honda Accord.

An Anaheim police helicopter spotted the vehicle matching that description as it turned into an apartment complex at 1901 W. La Veta St. Orange police blocked the suspect as he parked his car. He was arrested without incident, Romo said.

“He was just going home,” he said. “The guy was still in the car.”

Cabrera was carrying a toy replica of a .45-caliber handgun, Cox said.

On Monday, the bandit robbed the American Savings branch at 111 Main St. in Orange, about six blocks from American Interstate. The same man is believed responsible for five other bank robberies in Irvine, Tustin and Santa Ana since Oct. 26.

Cox wouldn’t reveal the amount stolen in Wednesday’s robbery but said that in the six previous ones “he didn’t do that well.”

Cabrera is scheduled to be arraigned today at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles, Cox said. He will be transferred from Orange County Jail to the Metropolitan Correctional Institute in Los Angeles.

Cox said that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department received a tip Tuesday on the suspect’s whereabouts. An FBI agent was ready to investigate the lead until Cabrera was arrested, he said.

Meanwhile, the FBI now has a lead on a man suspected of robbing four savings and loans in quick succession Friday, although no arrests have been made. The robber is being called “the vet,” because he struck on Veterans Day. He held up offices in Buena Park, Garden Grove, Cypress and Santa Ana.

The man is described as being 25 to 30 years old, 6-foot-2 and slender. He wore jeans and a baseball cap over his light brown, curly hair.