Detective is 70 years old.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A 70-year-old former Los Angeles police detective has been arrested under the suspicion of being the “Snowbird Bandit,” a notorious bank robber who has staged a rash of burglaries — at least five — since March in Southern California.
Randolph Bruce Adair, 70, was taken into custody on Wednesday in Rancho Santa Margarita after several family members tipped investigators off to his identity, reported NBC Los Angeles.
The bank bandit earned his nickname because of his white hair and from speculation he was an elderly man.
The robberies took place at California Bank and Trust in Dana Point, First Citizens Bank in Rancho Santa Margarita, Wells Fargo Bank in Mission Viejo, U.S. Bank in Ladera Ranch and First Citizens Bank in Rancho Santa Margarita, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Adair is a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective, last assigned to the Rampart Division. He joined the department in 1967 and retired in 1988, department officials said.
During his time there, he graduated from the top of his police academy class, helped arrest the assassin of Robert Kennedy and founded a charity football team, revealed the Orange County Register.
“It’s unfortunate, but we’re talking about human beings here. Obviously bank robbers usually are supporting some kind of drug habit or gambling habit,” said Lt. Jeff Hallock of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. ““I don’t know exactly what the motive was in this particular case or cases, but I think it’s typical that the motive has something to do with supporting a habit.”
Investigators plan on pursuing federal charges against the former public servant turned elderly public menace, disclosed the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.