Suspects in 14 Bank Holdups Run Out of Luck in Oxnard

Two suspected bank robbers believed by the FBI to have robbed a total of 14 banks in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties during the last month were arrested this week--one after a routine traffic stop and the other after a bicycle chase in Oxnard.

Gary Auer, agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Ventura County office, identified the two suspected robbers as Bruno Gilbert Torres, 24 and Raymond E. Hilliard II, 22, both of Oxnard. He said Torres is suspected in 10 robberies, including seven in Ventura County, and Hilliard is a suspect in four robberies.

Torres tried to escape when he was stopped for a routine traffic violation by Oxnard police, but ran into the back yard of an off-duty Ventura County sheriff’s deputy who held him at gunpoint until arresting officers arrived, Auer said.

Hilliard was surrounded by the FBI and Oxnard police at an Oxnard motel and tried to escape on a bicycle, Auer added. He said Hilliard reached speeds of 25 m.p.h. on the bike as he tried to escape in a scene reminiscent of the bicycle chase scene in the movie “E.T.”

The recent surge of bank robberies in Ventura County, which the FBI links primarily to Torres and Hilliard, has put the year’s total bank robberies for the county at 34, surpassing last year’s total of 31, Auer said.

Auer, who took charge of the FBI’s Ventura County office in 1986, said bank robberies that year totaled 71. The number was reduced to 60 in 1987 and dropped to 31 last year before’s this year’s increase.