Bank-robbery suspect will be held with no...

Bank-robbery suspect will be held with no bail

A man, dubbed the “Quatro Bandit” after he allegedly robbed four

banks in as many hours, appeared in federal court Friday and was

ordered to be held without bail.

James McKibbin, 34, was arrested at a Costa Mesa motel Thursday

afternoon, just hours after surveillance photos from the robberies

appeared on television, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman

Jim Amormino said. McKibbin faces a total of six counts of bank

robbery.

Police believe he robbed banks in Westminster, Huntington Beach,

Tustin and Costa Mesa in less than four hours Wednesday. That’s an

unheard-of robbery spree in such a short time, Amormino said.

A robber first hit a Washington Mutual in Westminster at 10:45

a.m. Wednesday. Then, authorities say, he hit a Huntington Beach

branch two hours later.

Only a half an hour later, a Union Bank in Tustin was robbed. The

alleged spree ended at the Washington Mutual at 196 E. 17th St. in

Costa Mesa.

Authorities also think McKibbin robbed a Bank of America on Via

Lido on May 25 and a Union Bank on Placentia Avenue on June 2.

In each case, he calmly passed a note to a teller, allegedly

demanding money and indicating that he had a gun.

Surveillance photos clearly showing the bandit appeared on

television Thursday afternoon, and the FBI started receiving calls

from tipsters.

Costa Mesa police arrested McKibbin at a motel in the 1900 block

of Newport Boulevard and turned him over to the FBI, authorities

said.

He is scheduled to appear in federal court again later this month.

Sentencing delayed in molestation case

A Corona del Mar woman convicted of attempted lewd acts with a

15-year-old girl will have to wait another three months to find out

if she’ll have to serve prison time.

Victoria Hawlish, 41, will go to a state prison for further

evaluation to determine if she’ll be sentenced to prison or given

probation. A probation report recommended that further evaluation of

Hawlish was necessary before a sentence was imposed, Judge Carla

Singer said during a sentencing hearing Friday.

Hawlish faces nearly three years in prison but could also get

probation.

The probation department made its recommendation after evaluating

a report from a psychotherapist who has been working with Hawlish. It

also reportedly contains numerous letters from family and friends

recommending probation and others from neighbors recommending against

it.

The state department of corrections will evaluate her for 90 days

and submit a report to the court with its recommendation. Sentencing

is scheduled for Sept. 16.

Hawlish was accused of molesting a 15-year-old girl who was living

with her, her husband and two young children in their Corona del Mar

home.

A jury found her guilty of three counts of attempted lewd acts

with a minor, a felony. She was found not guilty of five counts of

lewd acts with a minor.

Man found guilty of rape, sexual assault

A man accused of targeting drunk women at a Costa Mesa bar then

following them home and sexually assaulting them was found guilty of

three charges Wednesday.

Romilien Antonio Fleming, 36, was convicted of sexually assaulting

a Costa Mesa woman in 2004 and of burglarizing the home of another

Costa Mesa woman. He was also convicted of raping an unconscious

Placentia girl, who was a minor at the time, in 1998.

A jury acquitted him of another rape charge, in Fullerton in 1998,

and of a 2003 assault, in Irvine.

The man usually hung out at Pierce Street Annex on East 17th

Street in Costa Mesa and preyed on drunk women, prosecutors said. He

often followed the women home without their knowledge and in each

case, assaulted them in their homes, police said.

Costa Mesa police arrested him in January 2004 after following him

from a bar. He was later connected to the other, earlier assaults.

One dead, one injured in Newport Beach crash

A traffic collision in Newport Beach on Friday morning left one

woman dead and another injured.

Police responded to the accident at 9:30 a.m. at the corner of

MacArthur Boulevard and Von Karman Avenue, Sgt. Bill Hartford said. A

woman driving a Chevrolet Cavalier that was broadsided by a van was

found dead at the scene, police said.

A female passenger in the car was treated for injuries at the

scene and taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Her injuries

are not life-threatening, police said.

It appears the Cavalier was going south on MacArthur Boulevard and

attempted to make a U-turn across three lanes of traffic, Hartford

said. The van, which was going the same direction as the car,

broadsided the Cavalier as it cut in front, he said.

The van driver was not injured.

Anyone with information is asked to call traffic investigator

Gerry White at (949) 644-3748.

Armed men steal cash from Newport home

Two men armed with handguns barged into a Newport Beach home

Friday evening and made off with a large amount of cash, police said.

At least one person was home at the time of the robbery, Newport

Beach Sgt. Bill Hartford said. The two men entered the home in the

4100 block at Hilaria Way at about 5 p.m. Friday, police said.

Nobody was injured in the robbery.

-- Marisa O’Neil