In a bad year of bank heists, some good news

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

On a day when Las Vegas Valley police were kept hopping by an unprecedented six bank robberies, investigators could still feel relieved Tuesday, afterall, one of the four suspects they nabbed is believed to have pulled off 20 bank jobs in the last six months.

It's been a bad year for bank robberies in the valley, with the six robberies Tuesday padding the yearlong tally to 117, compared to 114 last year. Since Sept. 23, 16 valley banks have been hit. But investigators said six heists in one day might be a local record.

"No one can remember having six bank robberies in one day, but we don't keep track of that kind of thing," said Special Agent Joseph Dickey, a spokesman for the FBI's Las Vegas office. "It's extremely unusual to have six bank robberies in one day."

Authorities were happy to have apprehended 31-year-old David Lee Harris of Las Vegas, who is a suspect in a string of heists dating back to April.

Dickey said Harris had good luck in avoiding police for six months, but when he made his escape after reportedly holding up the Wells Fargo Bank at 4578 Boulder Highway about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, his luck ran out.

Metro Sgt. Ted Lee just happened to be in the area of the robbery and as the description of the robber and the getaway car came over his police radio, the suspected robber rolled by.

"I could see that it was the guy and the car," said Lee, of the Criminal Apprehension Team. "It was a good day for us and a bad day for him."

Lee made a U-turn and started following the getaway car in his unmarked police car. Marked patrol cars came up and joined in the chase. The robber lost control of his car, and police were able to arrest him without incident.

The spate of bank robberies Tuesday started about 8:15 a.m. in Henderson at the US Bank, 4550 E. Sunset Rd, when a masked gunman approached a teller as she walked into the bank before it opened. He forced her inside and waited for other employees to show up to work, Henderson Police said.

After four employees showed up, he bound them, took an undisclosed amount of cash from the vault and fled. The bound workers were found by another employee who came into the bank, police said. None of the bank employees were injured.

The robber was described as a white man, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing about 220 pounds, 30 to 35 years old with red hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a light colored suit coat, black pants, black ski mask and gloves. He was not apprehended as of this morning.

The next two bank robberies occurred in the midst of a mini crime spree that ended when Metro officers tracked two men to a Sahara Avenue apartment.

Robert Carl Litheredge, 41, and David John Stanton, 32, are accused of carjacking an Ace Cab driver at gunpoint on Valley View Boulevard about 8:20 a.m. The driver was released unharmed, and a short time later the two men allegedly ditched the cab when they were spotted by police, said Officer Tirso Dominguez, a Metro spokesman.

The pair are then accused of stealing a construction company truck and robbing the Clark County Credit Union on Flamingo and Sandhill roads about 9:20 a.m. The pair allegedly robbed a Nevada State Bank branch on Spring Mountain Road about 10 a.m., police said.

Witnesses gave a description of the truck used in both robberies as having the word "ACCEL" on the side. The two men apparently made the mistake of driving the truck to their apartment and parking it out front. A Metro helicopter spotted the truck and officers took the pair into custody.

There was a five-hour lull until the Bank of America at 2200 E. Warm Springs Road was hit about 3 p.m. when a man showed a teller a gun and demanded money.

Minutes after the robbery police spotted a man matching the suspect's description in a car and followed him to the neighborhood near Eastern Avenue and Warm Springs, Sgt. Christopher Darcy said.

"He went into his house at 7804 Branding Iron Lane, and we began evacuating about 10 nearby houses," Darcy said. "He reportedly had a gun when he was in the bank."

The SWAT team and negotiators were called to the scene and after nearly three hours, Dennis Hydock, 39, emerged from the house and gave up to police.

Hydock was turned over to the FBI and was charged with bank robbery with a weapon and felony obstruction.

The last robbery of the day also occurred in Henderson. A man entered the Wells Fargo Bank at 2196 Olympic Ave. about 5 p.m. -- not far from the bank robbery earlier in the day in the city -- demanded money and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The robber was described as white man, about 40 years old, between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing between 140 and 160 pounds with blond hair pulled into a pony tail. He was last seen wearing a dark baseball cap, sunglasses, an aqua blue T-shirt and blue jeans. He had not been apprehended as of this morning.

The four arrested suspects were held in the Las Vegas City jail until an initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate judge this morning on federal bank robbery charges, Dickey said.

In 1996 there were 141 bank robberies in the Las Vegas Valley, which is believed to be one of the highest yearly totals on record. In 1997 there were 82 bank heists followed by 100 in 1998.

Sun reporter Jace Radke contributed to this story.