Suspect Denied Bail in Takeover Bank Holdups
Bail was denied Monday for a man believed to be the final suspect in a group blamed for a series of violent, takeover-style bank robberies in Orange and Los Angeles counties, authorities said.
Liston Oswanio David, 34, of Los Angeles, who was arrested Sunday, had eluded police since a 1999 bank robbery in Huntington Beach, according to the FBI.
Agents said David was a member of a group known as the Head Hunter Bandits, which has been linked to 16 bank robberies.
The nine other alleged members have been convicted of the robberies and sentenced to prison terms, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Armed with a search warrant, police and FBI agents confronted David late Sunday, but he led them on a car chase that ended when he ran out of gas on the Harbor Freeway near Florence Avenue.
A federal magistrate denied bail Monday. David is scheduled to be arraigned July 16, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.
Huntington Beach detectives have been looking for David since July 7, 1999, when 10 men robbed the Bank of Yorba Linda in Huntington Beach.
Police picked up six of the suspects immediately, recovered the money and tracked down three other suspects a short time later, said Huntington Beach Police Lt. Luis Ochoa.
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