A man suspected of being the Hills Bandit, who was captured after leading authorities on a four-county pursuit that ended with a dramatic rollover crash, appeared in court yesterday in connection with a Laguna Hills bank heist.
Stephen Richard Bartlett, 53, is facing charges stemming from a July 16 robbery at a Citibank branch at 24221 Calle De La Louisa, from which $5,460 was taken. But he is also suspected in a dozen holdups in Orange, San Diego and Santa Barbara counties, according to FBI Special Agent Christopher Gicking.
Bartlett was ordered to remain jailed without bail pending a Nov. 10 arraignment.
Bartlett allegedly gave a “demand note” to a teller at the Laguna Hills bank that stated, “This is a robbery, I have a gun. Give me your 20s, 50s and 100s from both drawers,” according to Gicking.
Investigators also suspect Bartlett robbed six banks in Orange County, two in San Diego County, two in Santa Barbara, a bank in San Ramon, and one in Granite City, Gicking told City News Service. He’s also suspected in an attempted bank robbery in San Diego County, Gicking added.
Bartlett is suspected in a Sept. 26 robbery of the Montecito Bank and Trust branch in Santa Barbara, fleeing with about $1,829, Gicking said. After that heist, however, a dye pack that was slipped in with the cash exploded in the suspect’s car.
Although he has only been charged with the Laguna Hills robbery, he may face additional charges, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel.
Bartlett was arrested about 1 pm Thursday when he crashed at the end of a wild, 90-minute chase that began in Santa Fe Springs when police were called to a commercial steel business to investigate a possible fraudulent $12,000 order. Responding officers spotted the suspect in a stakebed truck, but
he refused to stop.
The pursuit continued on multiple freeways, briefly reaching into La Habra before the suspect headed east on the Pomona (60) Freeway into Riverside and drove north on the 215 Freeway toward San Bernardino.
At one point, the motorist drove south in the northbound lanes of the 215 Freeway, then made a U-turn across all lanes and headed into San Bernardino
County. He eventually lost control of the truck on the westbound 210 Freeway just west of the 215 Freeway and crashed alongside the freeway, with the truck rolling onto the driver’s side.
Bartlett crawled out of the passenger-side door and surrendered.
Bartlett, whose driver’s license shows an address in Nevada, is suspected of causing two crashes during the chase, one of them involving a
California Highway Patrol vehicle, according to the CHP.
While being chased in Santa Fe Springs, he threw a gun from the vehicle that was recovered and found to be a replica black semiautomatic, according to
Whittier police.
