‘Old Man Bandit’ Suspect May Be Facing Retirement in Prison

Back in the early 1960s, Edwin W. Loftus of Glendale--arrested this week in Hollywood as the so-called Old Man Bandit--was a dashing young man, active in local politics.

After an unsuccessful bid for election to the Los Angeles City Council, Loftus landed a paid position, at $850 a month, as a fieldworker for the California Rockefeller for President Committee.

He also worked as an administrative representative for onetime Republican Assemblyman Howard Thelin of Glendale, now a retired Superior Court judge.

But in February, 1964, Loftus was arrested in Los Angeles in a series of so-called transistor radio bank robberies, dating to 1961, that netted more than $61,000.

His alleged accomplices in the crimes--so dubbed because the robbers carried transistor devices tuned to police frequencies--were two former University of Miami students. Both committed suicide in Key Biscayne after admitting their involvement during a phone call to FBI agents.

Loftus was arrested after a check of a license plate used in a Western Union robbery led investigators to his West Hollywood home. The dapper young man pleaded guilty in the robberies and was sentenced to eight to 20 years on a series of charges that could have totaled 85 years in prison.

His former attorney, Maurice C. Inman Jr. of Beverly Hills, said the sentence was reduced because Loftus cooperated with authorities.

Described as a model prisoner at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., Loftus was released in April, 1971, and was discharged from parole in June, 1975, officials said.

Nearly 18 years later, Loftus, now 59, was arrested Thursday after a police stakeout of a Bank of America led to a chase from Glendale to Hollywood. He was described by Glendale Police Investigator Larry Cobb as “a well-dressed, elderly gentleman who looks just like anybody’s grandfather.”

Police say Loftus is responsible for a four-year string of at least 30 armed robberies--mostly at Bank of America branches in a corridor along the Ventura and Foothill freeways in the east San Fernando Valley, Burbank, Glendale and the San Gabriel Valley--that netted about half a million dollars.

The robber, who usually wore a fishing hat and wire-rim glasses, typically stood at the door of a bank and waited for a victim--most often a restaurant employee on the way to deposit receipts, Cobb said.

Police say they found an automatic pistol, a police scanner and several stolen license plates in Loftus’ car. Loftus described himself as a self-employed telecommunications expert.

Inman, his former attorney, described Loftus as “a very bright, very intelligent, charming guy.” He said Loftus “was into computers and radios at a time when my generation was not yet tuned to computers. He was ahead of the herd.”

Loftus, who wore a cast around his right pinky finger, declined comment Friday when he met with a reporter in the visitors area at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles. When asked about his previous involvement with the California Rockefeller for President Committee, he said angrily: “That’s it. End of discussion.”

His present attorney, Garrett J. Zelen of West Los Angeles, said the finger injury was unrelated to his arrest but declined to elaborate.

Neighbors, acquaintances and even police described Loftus as a gentleman. But police said they had grown concerned that robberies attributed to the Old Man Bandit had become more violent with time. One victim was shot in the foot in Pasadena last year and another victim was pistol-whipped, police said.

Inman said he “was astonished” to learn that Loftus was suspected of violence.

“He’s the world’s nicest guy,” the attorney said. “If you met him, you would be astonished, too.”

“He always appeared very nice, a very sweet person,” said Beverly Groberg, manager of a comfortable, older apartment building on North Brand Boulevard where Loftus has lived with his 80-year-old mother for 10 years.

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Loftus was an only child who grew up in North Hollywood, where he graduated from Harvard Military School, considered one of the finest private schools in the San Fernando Valley of that era. After graduation, he went into the sales field, specializing in office equipment and machinery, said his mother, Phyllis Beekman. He married three times, has a grown daughter and son and one grandchild, she said Friday.

In the mid 1950s, while living in Phoenix, Loftus was active in the Jaycees and named Man of the Year by the organization. After returning to Los Angeles in the late 1950s, he ran for the City Council. That piqued his interest in politics, his mother said, and he went on to work for Republican causes. However, he later became a Democrat, she said.

Beekman said her son is an avid reader--usually engrossed in technical books and biographies--and an animal lover. Just last weekend, the two of them went to a pet show at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona.

Loftus’ daughter, who asked that she not be identified, said she was not surprised to hear of her father’s arrest.

“Knowing his history? No, I was not shocked,” the daughter said.

Times correspondent Tommy Li contributed to this story.