Big-nose bandit suspect still at large

Marisa O’Neil

The man who hit one of two Newport Beach banks robbed Tuesday may be

the so-called big-nose bandit who, authorities say, is responsible

for five other Southern California robberies.

The FBI is investigating the robbery of a Bank of America in the

3300 block of East Coast Highway at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday as the latest

heist by the bandit. Police believe he has robbed banks in Los

Angeles, Malibu and Laguna Niguel.

They also think he robbed a Union Bank at 1501 Westcliff Drive on

June 24, Newport Beach Sgt. Bill Hartford said.

Police don’t believe, however, that he pulled off a second robbery

on Tuesday that happened just blocks away from the Bank of America

heist. A different suspect likely committed the 4 p.m. robbery of a

Citibank at 3021 East Coast Highway, Hartford said.

“We’re still looking at them as two unrelated robberies,” he said.

The FBI and a task force from the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department is investigating the “Big-Nose Bandit” robberies.

In each case, the suspect approached a teller, pulled a demand

note out of a bag, displayed a semiautomatic weapon, then left calmly

after he got the money, sheriff’s department spokesman Jim Amormino

said.

“He always shows his weapon, which makes him armed and dangerous,”

Amormino said.

Nobody has been injured in any of the robberies.

Authorities believe the bandit hit a Los Angeles Union Bank on

June 2, US Banks in Westwood and Malibu June 10 and 18 and a Laguna

Niguel Union Bank June 30 in addition to the two Newport Beach

heists.

“It shows some type of desperation,” Amormino said of the numerous

robberies. “It’s important we catch [robbers] like that. Desperate

people do desperate things.”

US Bank is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to

his arrest, Amormino said.

The “Big-Nose Bandit” earned the name because he has a

“larger-than-average” nose, Amormino said.

The bandit is otherwise described as a Latino or Middle-Eastern

man, 35 to 40 years old, between 5-feet-10-inches and 6-feet-tall,

medium build and dark hair. On Tuesday he was wearing a black leather

coat, dark pants and sunglasses, according to police.

The Citibank robber is described as a white man in his 30s,

5-feet-4-inches tall, slight build and dark hair. He was wearing blue

denim pants, a blue baseball cap and a blue windbreaker with white

lettering on the front-left chest and the back, police said.

That bandit approached a teller, displayed a handgun in his

waistband and demanded cash, Hartford said.

Newport Beach has seen an unusual amount of bank robberies in the

past two months, Hartford said.

Authorities believe a man they dubbed the “Quatro Bandit” robbed a

Newport Beach bank on May 25 and another on June 2. He earned the

name after he allegedly robbed four banks in four hours June 8,

including a Washington Mutual in Costa Mesa.

Police arrested James McKibbin, 34, of Costa Mesa two days later,

after a viewer recognized a surveillance photo televised on a local

news program. McKibbin appeared in federal court June 27 to face bank

robbery charges.

A May 26 robbery at a Bayside Drive Union Bank in Newport Beach

has not been connected to any of the recent heists, Hartford said.

Anybody with information about the robberies is asked to call

(310) 477-6565.