Lake Forest Man Held as Suspected ‘Dirt Bike Bandit’
A man suspected of being the “Dirt Bike Bandit,” wanted in connection with 11 bank robberies in South County, is in custody, police said Monday.
Howard John Letzkus IV, 29, was arrested Friday in Lake Forest by Orange County Sheriff’s Department officers, authorities said, and has been charged in connection with a crime spree that lasted from December 1998 to October 1999.
In each incident, a man handed a bank teller a note demanding money, investigators said. No weapons or injuries were reported during the incidents, in which the robber escaped on a motorcycle, sheriff’s officials said.
Sheriff Mike Carona said at a news conference Monday that the arrest was made in cooperation with federal investigators. “I want to thank our counterparts at the FBI,” he said.
The banks involved were Washington Mutual branches in Mission Viejo, Foothill Ranch and San Juan Capistrano; a Bank of America in Laguna Hills; two California Federal branches in San Juan Capistrano; a Fidelity Federal in Lake Forest; a World Savings in Mission Viejo; and a Home Savings in Mission Viejo.
Fingerprints at one of the robbery scenes led investigators to Letzkus at the address in Lake Forest where he was arrested.
“We just waited for him to show up,” Sheriff’s investigator Johnny Ortega said.
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