Where There’s Smoke, There’s a Robbery Suspect

A Santa Monica man who allegedly robbed two banks was arrested after an off-duty Burbank police officer spotted him acting suspiciously and provided the FBI with his car’s license plate number, authorities said Wednesday.

Steve Shaddix, 24, was arrested by FBI agents Tuesday night at his home on suspicion of robbing banks in Sun Valley and Burbank earlier in the day, Burbank Police Sgt. Don Goldberg said.

Officer Rick Burroughs was off-duty and driving in the 8800 block of Sunland Boulevard in Sun Valley about 3 p.m. when he saw a man with a briefcase running on the street, Goldberg said.

While watching the man, Burroughs saw red smoke puff from the briefcase. The officer suspected the smoke had come from the explosion of a red dye packet, a device routinely hidden in “bait money” turned over by tellers during bank robberies. The device often dyes the robber a distinctive color to help police find him.

Burroughs followed the man until he got in a car and drove away. The officer then went to a nearby Security Pacific bank and learned that it had just been robbed. He gave a description of the suspect, his car and its license plate number to FBI agents.

A short while later, a Security Pacific bank in the 3400 block of Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank was robbed by a man of the same description, Goldberg said.

Meanwhile, the FBI traced the information provided by Burroughs to Shaddix, and he was arrested by agents who were waiting when he returned home. A gun and some of the money taken from the banks was found in the car, Goldberg said. The amount taken in the robberies was not disclosed.