BANK HEIST SUSPECT'S LUCK RUNS OUT AT CASINO BANDIT CAUGHT, SAY POLICE.Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer Edmond Sykes apparently likes to gamble - not only with cards, but in real life. This week, the odds caught up with him. The 54-year-old Encino man was arrested Wednesday at Commerce Casino Commerce Casino is a cardroom located in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce. With over 240 tables on site, Commerce Casino is the largest cardroom in the world.[1] Established in 1983, the casino accounted for 38% of Commerce's tax revenues for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. - in between poker hands - on suspicion of robbing 17 banks in the past 21 months, most in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . He was formally charged Thursday in U.S. District Court on one count of armed bank robbery The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Bank robbery is the crime of robbing a bank. , although officials expect to add more charges. He was being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center "Metropolitan Dentention Center" refers to a series of federal detention facilities (prisons) located throughout the United States. They are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. . The FBI initially suspected Sykes in the robberies committed by a person they dubbed the Armed Old Man Bandit bandit: see brigandage. . But after arresting him, they also linked him to robberies committed by the Fedora A free distribution of the Linux kernel from Red Hat along with a variety of open source utilities. Technical support is not provided for any of the Fedora distribution, only for Red Hat's full fee-based subscription of Linux. Bandit. ``We're reasonably certain that he is (both bandits),'' FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. ``They had similar MOs.'' The bandit was known for being abusive and foul-mouthed, police said. In some cases, he threatened customers and tellers with a gun. Five times, he claimed he had a bomb, forcing the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. to evacuate the bank and neighboring businesses until the Bomb Squad cleared the area. Often, he'd wear bandages on his face to make it appear as if he'd been involved in a serious accident. Other times, he'd don the fedora. He lived alone, was unemployed and likely used the robberies to support a gambling habit, Eimiller said. Investigators believe it was Sykes whose face was covered in Band-Aids on Nov. 25 when he held up the First Commerce Bank in Encino. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a federal arrest warrant, that's when he made his big mistake. After the holdup, a bank employee followed the robber into the parking lot and wrote down the license plate number of his 1998 Mitsubishi. Officials traced the car to Sykes. Three days later, an FBI agent showed three bank employees Sykes' picture, and all three identified him. The FBI served a search warrant at his Encino home Nov. 29, but he wasn't there and never came back. The FBI believes he had been living in a hotel. Because of his gambling habit, investigators looked for him in local casinos and card houses. ``One of our agents happened to go to the casino in Commerce (on Wednesday) and was conversing with security personnel there, giving them fliers, when he looked over and saw Mr. Sykes actually playing,'' Eimiller said. The FBI agent and casino security lured Sykes into a private room, where he was arrested. Josh Kleinbaum, (818) 713-3669 josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com |
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