Robber of O.C. bank, thrift is a return customer

David Carl Camp was apparently satisfied with his chosen bank and credit union.

The 54-year-old Fountain Valley man, authorities said, has robbed the same Huntington Beach bank five times and the same Fountain Valley credit union four times.

Camp, who had been nicknamed the “4 Times Bandit” -- before the fifth Huntington Beach holdup -- was arrested Thursday after leaving a coffeehouse in Huntington Beach, officials said.

He was booked into the Santa Ana jail on one federal bank robbery charge; officials said other charges could be forthcoming. Bail was not set.

According to the FBI, the bandit would hand a teller a note saying that he had a bomb and a handgun and was willing to shoot -- though he was apparently unarmed. Authorities described him as graying, possibly missing teeth and apt to disguise himself with hats and glasses.

In Huntington Beach, officials said, Camp allegedly first robbed Union Bank in the 8800 block of Adams Avenue in August 2005.

During the March 17 robbery, security cameras recorded a bespectacled man in a brown, zip-up jacket and blue-and-white ski cap whom authorities said was Camp. After threatening an employee, the thief left through the bank’s north door and pedaled away on a red mountain bike, said Huntington Beach police, who posted the security camera image on their website.

Camp robbed the same bank again last week, law enforcement officials said, as well as the Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union for the fourth time Wednesday morning.

That Fountain Valley robbery led to Camp’s arrest the next day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said, in part because investigators were able to identify him from surveillance videos.

The FBI did not release the amount of funds taken during the robberies.

Authorities also searched Camp’s Fountain Valley residence.

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ashley.powers@latimes.com