A man who hit two banks Tuesday in Orange County, following two stickups within an hour in Brea and Yorba Linda on Friday, may be the “Gone Plaid Bandit,” who last struck in 2013, according to the FBI.
The suspect in Friday’s holdups was dubbed the Whitewash Bandit, but may actually be the Gone Plaid Bandit, wanted in at least a dozen holdups over three years, FBI Special Agent Chris Gicking said.
Today’s holdups occurred at a Union Bank branch at 701 W. Weir Canyon Road in Anaheim about 1:55 p.m., Gicking said, and at an East West Bank branch at 5402 Walnut Ave. in Irvine about 3 p.m.
Gicking noted that the latest heists marked the first time the bandit has displayed a weapon. In the Anaheim holdup, he pointed his gun at a teller while demanding cash.
All of the recent heists happened in the vicinity of branches the Gone Plaid bandit has robbed, Gicking said.
The two holdups followed consecutive stickups in Brea and Yorba Linda on Friday within an hour of each other.
A Comerica bank branch at 2500 E. Imperial Highway was robbed at 12:09 p.m. Friday and an Opus Bank branch at 17672 Yorba Linda Blvd. was held up about 1 p.m., according to Laura Eimiller of the FBI.
The bandit, who earned the moniker for wearing white shirts and a white fedora hat in his heists, is also suspected of a robbery in Valencia on Feb. 10 at a U.S. Bank branch at 28313 Newhall Ranch Road.
In the Valencia heist, the suspect held up a note — written in red marker — demanding cash, Eimiller said.
The suspect in the heists was described as a bespectacled white man who favors a fedora with a black band. He’s believed to be 30 to 40 years old, 5- foot-8 to 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds.
The Gone Plaid Bandit, whose spree appears to have started on Feb. 17, 2010, is suspected of the following heists:
— April 15, 2013, at an Opus Bank branch in Yorba Linda and a U.S. Bank branch in Laguna Niguel;
— April 26, 2013, at a Comerica Bank branch in Marina del Rey and a U.S. Bank branch at 157 N. Larchmont Blvd. in Los Angeles;
— Feb. 7, 2011, at Wells Fargo branch in Yorba Linda;
— Feb. 11, 2011, at a Chase bank branch in Anaheim Hills;
— May 16, 2011, at an East West Bank branch in Irvine;
— Jan. 6, 2012, at the Orange County Credit Union office in Yorba Linda;
— Jan. 9, 2012, at a Chase bank branch in Mission Viejo;
— Jan. 18, 2012, at the same East West Bank branch in Irvine he robbed in 2011; and
— May 11, 2012, at a Wells Fargo branch in Yorba Linda.
–City News Service