Convicted ‘Panty Bandit’ Is Arrested in Burglary
A man who was released from prison this year after serving 15 years for robbing women of their underwear has been arrested on suspicion of burglarizing an ex-girlfriend’s workplace, police said Wednesday.
Bruce Allen Lyons, 47, once dubbed the “panty bandit,” is being held at Orange County Jail without bail, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Lyons, who police said was stalking his ex-girlfriend Oct. 4, broke into her workplace at a medical office in Aliso Viejo that night, Amormino said. Authorities said they found Lyons with personnel files, printouts of computer searches on people and two stolen cell phones.
The items implicate Lyons in more than 40 armed robberies in Culver City, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, police said.
In those cases, the robber went into businesses carrying a box, then forced employees at gunpoint to dump their belongings--including cell phones, credit cards, watches and jewelry--in the container before fleeing, Amormino said.
Lyons was convicted in 1988 of 22 counts of robbery. Police said he pointed a gun at women and ordered them to remove their underwear.
He served his sentence and was released from prison but failed to register as a sex offender as ordered by a judge, police said.
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