BANK HEIST SUSPECT CAUGHT IN LANCASTER.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A Compton ex-convict suspected of six Nevada bank robberies is in custody on suspicion of robbing Lancaster's downtown Bank of America and dropping the money as he escaped on a bicycle, officials said Friday.

Frederick Dewayne White, 27, who got out of federal prison in 2002, was arrested Thursday afternoon after Lancaster sheriff's detectives tracked him down to a house about a half mile from the bank that was robbed Tuesday.

``After identifying him on our bank robbery we learned he was wanted out of Las Vegas by the FBI,'' Detective Dwayne Bednar said.

White was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail on suspicion of armed robbery. He had been arrested in June in Compton on a misdemeanor assault charge and was released after being sentenced to five days in jail.

``He has friends up in this general area, which is he came up here,'' Bednar said.

White is under indictment from a federal court in Nevada for a July 13 robbery of a Las Vegas Bank of America, deputies said. He is a suspect in five other Nevada bank robberies, deputies said.

Deputies won't say how they identified White as the robber or tracked him down, saying only that investigation turned up leads to the house in the 700 block of Avenue H-13.

Deputies surrounded the house Thursday afternoon, called over a loudspeaker to White and he came out within a couple minutes, Bednar said.

The robber who held up the Lancaster Boulevard bank on Tuesday morning was foiled when an anti-theft dye pack exploded in his loot. The robber dropped the stained-red $10 and $20 bills on the sidewalk across the street from the Bank of America.

Deputies believe the robber dropped all the stolen cash.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com