A Rancho Cucamonga man suspected in a series of bank robberies throughout Southern California was arrested by police and charged federally with bank robbery, announced David Bowdich, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Joseph Adel Noriega, 37, of Rancho Cucamonga, was taken into custody by officers with the South Pasadena Police Department Thursday afternoon following a bank robbery at a Chase Bank on Fair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena.
Noriega is believed to be the serial bank robber previously unidentified and known to law enforcement as the “Bluto Bandit.” Since June, the Bluto Bandit was linked to more than a dozen bank robberies, bank robbery attempts and bank casings in the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange.
On Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, Noriega was charged in a criminal complaint filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles. According to the complaint, agents and law enforcement partners in multiple jurisdictions were investigating eight bank robberies linked to an unknown bank robber, the first of which occurred on June 10, 2015, and the most recent of which occurred on Aug. 12, 2015. The bandit wore a baseball cap and a black beard that covered most of his face.
At that time, the FBI assigned the nickname “Bluto Bandit” to the unidentified bank robber in order to keep track of the series when sharing information with partner law enforcement agencies. The name is based on the fake black beard the suspect wore during robberies which resembled the Bluto character in Popeye cartoons. During the bank robberies attributed to the Bluto Bandit, the suspect passed a demand note to the victim teller which demanded cash and that the victim teller comply with his demands.
In some robberies linked to the Bluto Bandit, the suspect’s note advised the teller to remain calm; to remove the money within 15 or 30 seconds; or to avoid deploying security devices. The suspect generally did not talk during the robberies. Witnesses to some of the robberies described seeing the suspect flee in a white Volkswagen Jetta with a license plate that was ultimately traced to a stolen vehicle, according to the complaint.
The complaint charges Noriega with Thursday’s robbery in South Pasadena; however, the investigation is continuing. Following the robbery, local police located the defendant driving the suspected white vehicle following a brief pursuit in the nearby city of Rosemead. Noriega was taken into custody without incident. According to the complaint, officers found evidence, including bank robbery demand notes, in Noriega’s vehicle.
Noriega was turned over to federal custody Friday morning. Noriega had an initial appearance before a federal magistrate and was remanded to federal custody.
Noriega will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Additional information about bank robbers currently wanted by the FBI’s Los Angeles Division in its seven-county territory can be found at www.labankrobbers.org.
