‘Kangaroo Bandit’ Suspect Is Indicted

A suspect considered to be Southern California’s most wanted bank robber, known as the Kangaroo Bandit, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on four counts of holding up financial institutions.

Cain Vincent Dyer is believed to be responsible for at least 24 bank robberies throughout Southern California in 19 months, according to federal law enforcement officials.

The FBI did not disclose his April 12 arrest until Thursday, citing the sensitivity of an ongoing investigation into his alleged activities.

Authorities declined to say where or how Dyer was arrested, or divulge personal details about him, except to say that he is 30 and from Los Angeles.

“He is a bank robber, I will say that,” said FBI Special Agent Patrick Conley, the lead agent on the case since August 1999, when the suspect is believed to have robbed his first bank, a Washington Mutual branch in Calabasas.

“It’s certainly a step in the right direction,” Conley said of the arrest. “We still have a lot of work to do, and the investigation is continuing. But it’s good to get him in custody and get him off the street.”

The arrest came 10 months after the FBI appealed to the public for help in finding the Kangaroo Bandit and posted a $15,000 reward for information leading to his capture and conviction.

The robber was given the nickname because he was captured on numerous bank videos stuffing his loot into a knapsack dangling from his chest. After drawing a gun and yelling for bank customers to lie on the floor, authorities said, the bandit went from teller to teller, sliding the cash across the counter and into his pouch.

Conley, who admits to having been obsessed with catching the notorious bandit, said the man did his homework, casing banks carefully before robbing them. The robber also moved from one city and bank chain to another, and changed his appearance so witnesses could not be sure whether he was white, black or Latino. Dyer has a mixed racial background, Conley said.

The suspect is accused of using a gun to rob a Wells Fargo branch in Brentwood on Oct. 29, 1999; a Washington Mutual branch in Irvine on Dec. 10, 1999; a Sanwa Bank branch in La Habra on Jan. 14, 2000; and a First Bank and Trust branch in Marina del Rey on June 9, 2000.

In addition, Dyer is believed to have robbed banks in Calabasas and Mission Viejo.

If convicted on all counts, Dyer faces up to 100 years in federal prison. He was ordered held without bond pending arraignment Monday.