BREA : Help Sought to Find ‘Ponytail Bandit’

Police are asking help from the public in identifying a man suspected of committing about a dozen bank robberies in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties over the past two months.

The suspect, whom police have dubbed the “Ponytail Bandit,” is believed responsible for a string of bank robberies since June, according to Brea Police Detective Grant Gulickson.

The man attempted to rob a Mechanics Bank branch in Brea on July 24 but was foiled when a bank employee inadvertently interrupted him as he was handing a teller his demand note.

On July 16, he took $1,500 from a Wells Fargo Bank branch at 2535 N. Tustin Ave. in Orange.

Sgt. Larry Pore, who supervises the Orange Police Department’s robbery detail, said the man handed a note to a teller demanding money and pretended to have a weapon.

It is the same method the man has used in the other robberies, Gulickson said.

Gulickson said the man’s first robbery occurred June 1 when he held up a Bank of America branch in Yorba Linda and escaped with $1,000.

Gulickson said the man has also hit banks in Fullerton, Garden Grove, Anaheim, El Toro, Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Riverside.

His average take is less than $1,000, Gulickson said.

The man appears to be working alone, based on videos of the robberies recorded by bank cameras, Gulickson said.

Gulickson described the robber as about 6 feet tall, slim to medium build, with blondish-brown hair worn in a ponytail.

He appears to have a mole on the left side of his neck, which he tries to hide with a bandage, Gulickson said.

Anyone with information on the robber is asked to call Gulickson at (714) 990-7677.