2 Suspects in 21 Southland Bank Robberies Arrested

Two men suspected of committing 21 bank robberies this year in separate sprees in Los Angeles and in Orange County were in federal custody Friday.

The two alleged bandits, who apparently did not work in concert, were arrested within seven hours of each other on Thursday. They may have accounted for nearly 20% of Los Angeles’ 71 bank robberies this year, said spokesmen for the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department.

“It was a bad day for the serial bank robber and a good day for us,� said Lt. Bruce Meyer of the LAPD’s Robbery and Homicide Division.

Police and FBI agents arrested Mark McAdoo, believed to be the “Ninja Bandit,� about 2 p.m. Thursday as he sat on a bus bench near Mansfield Avenue and Olympic Boulevard in the Wilshire District. He did not offer any resistance, Meyer said.

Authorities suspect that McAdoo, 22, of San Pedro was involved in at least seven robberies in Los Angeles and three in Orange County, said Meyer and FBI spokesman Jim Nielson. More than $6,000 was stolen in the three Los Angeles robberies during which the briefcase-bearing bandit gave tellers holdup notes and then fled on a black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle.

According to Nielson, the “Ninja Bandit� first struck Jan. 27 at a Wells Fargo Bank in the 100 block of South Barrington Avenue. The robber last struck Feb. 27.

Seven hours after McAdoo’s arrest, police detectives raided a party at a motel in the 7100 block of South Vermont Avenue and arrested Howard A. Bonner, 59, on suspicion of bank robbery. Bonner, who has no known address, is suspected of being the “Old-Timer Bandit,� an elderly looking holdup man who had committed a string of 11 robberies in Los Angeles.

In each of the robberies, which started Jan. 22 with the holdup of an American Savings & Loan office in the 3200 block of Wilshire Boulevard, the “Old-Timer Bandit� approached tellers and extended his hand in a jacket or pants pocket to simulate a gun. Losses to banks in the 11 robberies topped $20,000, Meyer said.

Bonner was released from federal prison late last year after serving what Nielson described as a “long term� for a previous bank robbery offense. Neither law enforcement official would go into further detail about Bonner’s criminal record.

Both arrests grew out of investigations of the earlier robberies, authorities said. FBI and city police are trying to determine whether the two bandits may have been involved in other robberies.

Taken before a federal magistrate late Friday, both men were charged with bank robbery and held without bail, Neilson said.