Bandit holds up two O.C. banks
Investigators are searching for a man they have dubbed “The Pronto Bandit” after he robbed two Orange County banks six miles apart within minutes of each other Monday afternoon.
The robber entered the Washington Mutual bank at 26971 Crown Valley Parkway in Mission Viejo at 3:04 p.m., told the teller he had a gun and demanded money, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.
The robber took an undisclosed amount of cash and then raced to a Wells Fargo bank at 32222 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. He robbed that bank at 3:18 p.m. by the same method, Amormino said.
The man is described as white with brown hair, green eyes and a mustache. He was wearing a Nike hat and a blue and gray sweatshirt.
“He must have cased them both out or had somebody else case them out,” Amormino said of the banks.
Although the FBI, looking at videotape of the robberies, did not recognize the gunman from any previous robberies, Amormino said, his calmness and the speed of the crimes made it unlikely he was a first-time bank robber.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (714) 542-8825.
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