Local News in Brief : Newport Beach : Toy Gun Used in Bank Robbery; Suspect Held

A man who police said used a realistic toy gun to rob a branch of the Bank of America in Newport Beach was arrested Thursday minutes after the robbery.

Wade Joseph Driggers, 40, who police said has no fixed address, was being held late Thursday on a charge of armed robbery in Newport Beach Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, a Newport Beach police spokesman said.

The robbery occurred about 1:30 p.m. when a man entered the bank in the 1000 block of Irvine Avenue, brandished a toy handgun and demanded money from a teller. The man, who was handed an unknown amount of cash, then fled.

Bank employees notified police, who dispatched a police helicopter to hover over the bank building immediately after the robbery. It spotted a jeep leaving the area in a suspicious way, so officers on the ground stopped the vehicle near the intersection of Placentia and Center streets in Costa Mesa, the spokesman said. The suspect did not resist arrest. A toy handgun and money believed to be part of the bank loot was recovered from the vehicle, the spokesman said.