Countywide : ‘Micro-Optic’ Bank Holdup Suspect Held

A bank robber known for rapidly blinking his eyes while staging about 30 holdups in Orange and Los Angeles counties has been arrested by undercover police officers, authorities said Friday.

Garry Allen Reeder, 29, an unemployed pipe fitter from San Pedro, admitted his role in robbing a bank about every two weeks last year, Buena Park Police Sgt. Terry Branum said.

Reeder, suspected of being the robber dubbed by police the Micro-Optic Bandit, was arrested by Buena Park officers early Thursday morning at an Artesia motel after police received a tip from a confidential informant, Branum said.

The officers had arrived at the Best Western motel at 16905 Pioneer Blvd., Artesia, to serve Reeder with a $400 misdemeanor warrant from an unrelated incident. Last month, Reeder was stopped by a Huntington Beach officer for a traffic citation, failed to show a driver’s license, lied about his name and did not appear in traffic court.

Reeder is being held without bail in Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center, FBI spokesman Bill Tidyman said. He is held on suspicion of armed robbery and will be arraigned in federal courts there.

Robbery investigators teletyped an announcement of Reeder’s arrest to local law enforcement agencies Friday, Branum said, so they can determine how many banks Reeder is suspected of robbing.

Police allege that Reeder’s most recent bank robbery took place in Anaheim.

When undercover officers arrived at the motel at 6:40 a.m. Thursday, they found Reeder alone. Police said they found a crumpled, handwritten note in a trash can asking about a driver for a future bank robbery.