Los Angeles County Bank Robber on the Loose

The FBI is looking for the man responsible for a string of bank robberies committed in Los Angeles County.

The so-called "" bandit has been linked to Tuesday's robbery of a Chase Bank in Venice, authorities said Wednesday.

The bank robber also hit a bank Tuesday in the Palms area, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Los Angeles field office. No further information on either robberies was immediately available.

The unidentified robber, who is wanted for multiple heists in Los Angeles County, got his name because he leaves a device in the bank that requires a bomb squad to respond to render the building safe, Eimiller said.

In a December 2011 press release, the FBI said the robber had recently struck banks in West Covina and West Hollywood. He has been described by witnesses as a white male, 35 to 45 years old, between 5-feet 10-inches and 6-feet tall, and weighing 175 to 190 pounds.

The release said the suspect left a device made of electronic components and wiring during each robbery and stated someone outside the bank would detonate it. He said he had a bomb during the West Covina robbery. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department bomb squad responded to both the West Covina and West Hollywood robberies.

The suspect made an oral demand and handed a note to the teller in both of those robberies and demanded as much as $20,000 in cash, according to the release.

The FBI said the suspect's notes indicated he had a friend monitoring a police frequency outside the bank and that he would make a call telling his friend to "press a button." One note said once his friend was contacted, the "establishment will not exist," the release said.

Anyone with information on the identity or the whereabouts of the "explosives threat" bandit should dial 911 or call the FBI's Los Angeles field office at 888-226-8443.

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