‘911’ Brings Help to Handcuffed Victims in Burbank Holdup

An armed robber handcuffed employees of a Burbank savings and loan to the inside of a vault Thursday after ordering them to hand him an undetermined amount of cash, Burbank police said.

The well-dressed robber entered the Hancock Savings & Loan Assn. branch at 1090 N. San Fernando Blvd. shortly before the 4 p.m. closing time and spoke to a loan officer until all the customers had left, Sgt. Mike Keeffe said.

He then pulled a revolver from a briefcase and announced the robbery, Keeffe said.

The man used seven sets of handcuffs, also from the briefcase, to bind the five employees, Keeffe said. Some were bound to each other and some to the vault, which was left open, he said.

The employees, none of whom was hurt, “worked their way around” so one could reach a telephone outside the vault by stretching her hand and using the tip of a fountain pen, Keeffe said. The employee dialed “911” with the pen, he said.