A “serial bank robber” who has spent more than half his life in prison has been arrested for another hold-up, at the age of 71.

Bruce Edward Bell was arrested after a bank in the town of Sun Valley, in California’s San Fernando Valley, was targeted last month, police have said.

Bell, who has four prior convictions for robbing banks, was arrested during a traffic stop in which officers found a black replica firearm and around $64,000 (£50,000) in cash on him, police said.

Los Angeles police (LAPD) said Bell, who has served more than 40 years in prison, is a “serial bank robber”.

He was released from federal prison in October 2021, Federal Bureau of Prisons records show.

On CCTV released by the LAPD, a man is seen entering the bank in Sun Valley holding what looks like a gun, and “grabbed an employee and pointed a firearm”.

He threatened to shoot the worker unless he was allowed into the secure area, police said.

Once inside, a security guard was forced to crouch under a desk, and the intruder approached another female cashier, ordering her to fill his bag with cash.

The woman put her hands up, then, after the robber spoke to her, began using her computer.

Soon afterwards, bank notes began coming out of a cash counting machine on her desk.

The suspect waited for five separate lots of notes, stuffing them into a carrier bag he had brought with him, and then left the bank.

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Bell has been charged with second-degree robbery and kidnapping and was being held on bail of $1.6m (£1.25m), court records showed.

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