Warrant Issued for DNA Strands

In the first case of its kind in Orange County and only the second statewide, prosecutors issued an arrest warrant Friday for a robbery suspect known only by his DNA.

“John Doe, unknown male with Short Tandem Repeat (STR) Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Profile at the following Genetic Locations, using the Cofiler and Profiler Plus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplifications kits,” begins the description of the man charged with several felony counts in connection with more than a dozen Orange County bank robberies from May 2000 to October 2003.

The description then lists 13 specific genetic locations, including D3S1358 (16,17), vWA (16,17) and FGA (21,22), “with said Genetic Profile being unique, occurring in approximately 1 in 100 quadrillion of the Caucasian population.... “

Among African Americans, according to the description, Doe’s DNA profile is even less common -- 1 in 150 quadrillion -- with only about 1 out of every 800 quadrillion Southwestern Latinos likely to be him.

According to the district attorney’s office, the DNA samples were collected from robbery scenes at Wells Fargo banks in San Juan Capistrano on Dec. 14, 2001, and in Garden Grove on May 17, 2002.

Investigators would not reveal how the samples were collected, but said they decided to issue the DNA-based warrant following the recent passage of Proposition 69, which requires California to take genetic samples from anyone arrested in a felony.

“We’re probably going to have a lot more samples now,” said Susan Kang Schroeder of the district attorney’s office. “People who commit these crimes are likely to be arrested again, and we want to have the warrant” in the system.

The man with the short tandem repeat DNA profile could face 66 years in prison.

Anyone with information about the robberies, officials say, should call (714) 536-5951.

Times wire services contributed to this report.