A wild 90-minute police pursuit over Orange County freeways ended with the capture of the “Hills Bandit,” an elusive suspect who the FBI has tied to numerous bank robberies and attempted robberies across Southern California, including three in San Diego.
The ordeal started Thursday when a steel company called the Whittier Police Department to report suspected fraud in a $12,000 order of steel.
WPD officers say a man – later identified as Stephen Richard Bartlett, 53 – picked up the steel, loaded it in a white stake truck and started to drive away. When police tried to pull him over, the suspect sped off, leading pursuing officers on a long chase through Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, La Habra and Brea.
WPD officials say as he drove the wrong way over surface streets and freeways, Bartlett threw a gun out the window. Investigators later recovered it and identified it was a replica black semi-automatic.
The pursuit, which reached speeds up to 85 mph, ended when the driver violently crashed off the 210 Freeway.
Bartlett was taken to the hospital for minor injuries. The FBI has since identified him as the man wanted for at least eight bank robberies dating back to May, the WPD says.
The suspect is accused of holding up a U.S. Bank in Carlsbad on Aug. 5, a California Bank and Trust on La Jolla Village Drive on Aug. 25 and a Union Bank on Girard Avenue in San Diego on Sept. 8. In the last incident, no money was taken.
Similar robberies took place in Laguna Hills, Lake Forest and Laguna Niguel.
The FBI says in each heist, the “Hills Bandit” passes a demand note to the teller, threatening he has a weapon and demanding cash in 100s, 50s and 20s. Surveillance cameras caught him wearing glasses and Raiders, Chargers, Titleist or L.A. Angels baseball hats.
When Bartlett is transferred to jail, he will be booked on charges of felony theft, felony evading, felony vehicle embezzlement, two hit-and-run crashes and numerous bank robberies.
Photo Credit: KNBC-TV
