Suspect in Series of Holdups Arrested

A San Diego man suspected of being the “Leave the Note for the FBI” bandit was apprehended Monday at a downtown San Diego motel, just three days after the latest bank holdup, authorities said.

David Patrick Barrera, 40, was arrested late Monday as he left a motel on 9th Avenue, San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson said. FBI agents and a San Diego detective had staked out the motel after they discovered a blue, rented Ford LTD in the parking lot.

Robinson said the same car had been identified Friday by a security guard at a downtown Bank of Commerce office after a robber escaped with $800.

When Barrera and another man left the motel and entered the car, authorities surrounded it and arrested Barrera, who did not resist. The other man was interviewed and released, Robinson said.

Barrera is a suspect in eight downtown robberies since Dec. 4, FBI Special Agent Joseph C. Johnson said. The bandit reportedly told victims to pass his demand note along to FBI agents, thus earning his distinctive nickname.

“Most of the money obtained during the bank robberies was used to support Barrera’s drug habit,” Robinson said, adding that a search of Barrera’s motel room yielded no money and no gun.

Barrera, a college graduate, was once self-employed as a manufacturer, Johnson said in a statement, but is now unemployed. He is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and will be arraigned today in federal District Court.