El Cajon

A man who said he wanted cash to buy a motorcycle has been arrested in connection with one of three bank robberies in San Diego Thursday, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

About 2:15 p.m., a man wearing a U.S. Navy sweat shirt robbed General Bank in Kearney Mesa of $1,172 after handing a teller a note, Robinson said.

A few minutes later and a few blocks away, Officer Diego Lacangan spotted a man matching the suspect’s description and arrested him on suspicion of robbery, Robinson added.

John Sanford Carter, 57, told police he has lived in San Diego as a transient since 1961, most recently at the Washington Street bridge over Pacific Coast Highway. He said he wanted $1,000 to buy a motorcycle, Robinson said.

Carter was handed over to the FBI for questioning and was to be held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown.

The first robbery Thursday took place at 9:05 a.m. at a Security Pacific National Bank branch in Pacific Beach, Robinson said. A man described as white, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, in his 30s, and wearing a brimmed hat and tan blazer, gave a teller a note stating that he had a gun and wanted “all the money,” Robinson said. He escaped with $1,682.

In the second robbery, at 12:50 p.m., a man described as black, in his 30s, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds and wearing a gray suit, gray shoes and sunglasses, told a teller at a Bank of California branch in Mira Mesa that he had a weapon and added that he had AIDS, Robinson said. The bandit took $2,000, Robinson said.