Man detained in connection with bank robberies

Marisa O’Neil

Authorities late Thursday arrested a man they’re calling the “Quatro

Bandit.” He allegedly robbed four banks in less than four hours

Wednesday.

Police believe he’s the same person who robbed two Newport Beach

banks in the past two weeks. Police arrested the man, who had not

been identified at press time, after someone saw surveillance photos

on television and tipped authorities, Orange County Sheriff’s

Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

“The tipster said he was living in a motel in Costa Mesa,”

Amormino said. “The man who was placed under arrest is the Quatro

Bandit.”

A group of sheriff’s investigators and FBI agents, called a

bank-robbery-apprehension task force, was investigating all the

robberies.

Costa Mesa police took the man into custody at a motel in the 1900

block of Newport Boulevard. The FBI took over after that, Costa Mesa

Sgt. Marty Carver said.

Surveillance photos released Thursday clearly showed a man, and

authorities hoped someone would recognize him, Amormino said. Photos

were also released following the Newport Beach robberies.

In each of the bank heists, a robber passed a note to a teller

demanding money and indicating that he had a gun.

No gun was seen in the robberies, Amormino said.

The bandit kept a low profile during the robberies and, in fact,

an employee even let him out of a locked front door, unaware that the

bank had just been robbed, Newport Beach Sgt. Bill Hartford said.

Four robberies in one day is unheard of, Amormino said, noting

that the robber was probably desperate.

Wednesday’s first robbery took place at 10:45 a.m. at a Washington

Mutual in Westminster, Amormino said. A robber hit a Huntington Beach

branch of the bank two hours later.

A half hour later, a man reportedly robbed a Union Bank in Tustin.

The last hit of the day was another Washington Mutual at 196 E.

17th St. in Costa Mesa. After that one, a dye pack apparently

exploded inside the robber’s bag of money, Costa Mesa Sgt. Marty

Carver said.

Police think the man arrested Thursday is responsible for

Wednesday’s robberies and for the May 25 robbery of a Bank of America

on Via Lido and a Union Bank on Placentia Avenue on June 2 in Newport

Beach.

“Bank robbers -- they never have enough,” Amormino said. “A lot of

the time, they will rob until they get caught.”