Police Seize Ex-Convict as ‘Counter-Jumper’ Suspect in Bank Heists

A man suspected of being the Westside bank robber whose crimes were distinguished by a flamboyant leap over the tellers’ counter was arrested Tuesday night near Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from Las Vegas, police said Wednesday.

William Tecumseh Smith, 29, of Ladera Heights is suspected of robbing 18 banks and savings and loan associations, beginning in 1986, said Lt. Bruce Meyer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division. Most of the crimes took place on the city’s Westside, along the San Diego Freeway corridor.

“He would generally vault the counter with a gun in his hand and terrorize the customers,” Meyer said.

After emptying the cash drawers, the robber would again leap over the counter and run away, the lieutenant added.

Lull in Crimes

Four bank robberies were tied to the so-called “counter-jumper” bandit in 1986. After a lull of more than a year, the robberies resumed last November, police said.

According to records filed in Santa Monica Superior Court, Smith spent much of 1986 and 1987 in state prison. Judge Robert W. Thomas gave Smith a two-year sentence on Aug. 20, 1986, after Smith pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted robbery, the records state.

Convicted felons usually are eligible for parole after serving half of their sentences. The court records do not indicate when Smith was released.

At the time of his arrest on the attempted robbery charge, Smith was on probation for an earlier, undisclosed offense, according to the court records.

Surveillance cameras at many of the banks that were robbed caught a man believed to be Smith on film, Meyer said. But the lieutenant declined to say specifically how authorities identified Smith by name. Los Angeles police detectives and the FBI cooperated on the bank robbery investigation.

Stopped Car

Smith’s wife, Bonita, 30, was arrested with her husband by officers from the Police Department’s Metropolitan Division when the couple was stopped in their car at about 9 p.m. Tuesday near Airport and Century boulevards. She had just picked up Smith at the airport, police said.

“Her participation in the robberies is under investigation,” Meyer said.

Smith, who is being held in the jail at the Parker Center police headquarters downtown on a federal warrant, will be turned over to the FBI for prosecution under federal bank robbery statutes, Meyer said.

Police were unable to say Wednesday how much money the counter-jumper bandit is believed to have taken.

The average bank robbery nets about $2,000, Meyer said.

Of the 373 bank robberies committed within the city last year, more than 70% have been solved, according to police.

Times staff writer Bonnie Heald contributed to this article.