2 ARRESTED IN 22 ROBBERIES : VALLEY BANKS WERE AMONG BOMB-THREAT VICTIMS, POLICE SAY.

Byline: Daily News Staff Writer

Police said Thursday they have arrested two men suspected of at least 22 bank robberies in Southern California since May 15, including 14 in the San Fernando Valley.

Raul Ortiz and Ernesto Gonzalez, both 30-year-old residents of the Pico Union area, were arrested around 3 p.m. Wednesday. Detectives who had them under surveillance said they saw the two enter a Great Western Bank branch at 1415 Lincoln Blvd. in the Venice area just before it was robbed.

More than $10,000 from the branch was recovered upon their arrest, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis Li.

Investigators labeled the pair the ``Latin Bomb Bandits.'' The two gave bank tellers notes and made bomb threats, said Lt. Anthony Alba, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

During a news conference at Parker Center, Alba said nobody was injured in the robberies and that he has no evidence that a real bomb was ever present.

Gonzalez and Ortiz are suspected of four bank robberies in North Hollywood, three in Glendale, two in Pasadena, and one each in Sherman Oaks, Sun Valley, Tarzana and Burbank, according to FBI spokesman John Hoos.

The two also are being investigated for robberies in Whittier, La Habra and Santa Monica.

``There was a demand note used in each and every one of these cases,'' Alba said, adding that robbers in many of the incidents made references ``regarding possession or simulation of a bomb.''

As for motive, Alba said: ``I think that drugs will enter into this at some time or other,'' adding there is evidence that there were ``some addiction problems.''

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Reichmann ordered the two men detained during a hearing Thursday and agreed to their request to order medical treatment for drug withdrawal.

Alba refused to disclose the amount of money taken in each robbery, citing the continuing investigation.

The two men were booked on charges of robbery stemming from the Venice incident and were turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

``They will be prosecuted under federal law,'' Hoos said.

Li said a federal grand jury will probably get evidence on other robberies later this month before deciding whether to hand down indictments.

Authorities said Ortiz and Gonzalez are suspects in a string of robberies that began May 15 at Great Western Bank, 500 N. Glendale Blvd., in Glendale.

The same bank was robbed again May 20 by the same people, police believe.

``We did have a few occurrences. I'm glad to hear of these arrests,'' said Joel Chavarin, manager of the Glendale bank branch.

The arrests are a success for the LAPD's Special Investigation Section, which has been under fire for following known violent felons and waiting for them to commit crimes before stepping in and making arrests.

Former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates supported the unit but once threatened to disband it after detectives were sued for the shooting deaths of three robbers who emerged from holding up a Sunland McDonald's restaurant in 1990.

In the latest case, the LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division received information implicating Ortiz and Gonzalez in robberies, so the pair were put under surveillance for a couple of days by the Special Investigations Section, Alba said.

Alba said police saw the men enter the Great Western branch.

``Upon the suspects' leaving the bank, SIS detectives entered the bank and determined that a robbery had in fact taken place,'' Alba said, adding that witnesses said one of the men threatened to explode a bomb.

``The suspects were then stopped during a traffic stop and taken into custody without incident. At the time of the arrest, all of the money from the bank robbery was recovered,'' Alba said.

Alba would not say whether any weapons or explosive devises were found in the car.