4 Arrested in Automated Teller Robbery

Four people, including a 14-year-old boy, have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a Panorama City automated teller machine that police said Saturday might be linked to several other similar robberies in the Los Angeles area.

One of the incidents that Los Angeles police said the four suspects might be connected to resulted in the shooting death Aug. 22 of prominent Jewish community leader Jerry Weber of Encino, who was gunned down at an automated teller machine in West Los Angeles.

The four robbery suspects were arrested Friday night shortly after they allegedly stole $200 from Jules Tearle, 45, and Velma Gottlieb, 53, at a branch of Western Federal Savings at Van Nuys and Roscoe boulevards, said Sgt. Charles Meter of the Van Nuys Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Meter said the two were robbed about 8:45 p.m. As the suspects got into a waiting car, one of them fired a shot in the direction of the pair, but they were not hit, he said.

About 45 minutes later, police stopped a car at Arminta Street and Van Nuys Boulevard for a routine traffic violation. One of the officers making the stop saw a gun thrown from the car, Meter said. They also found Gottlieb’s checkbook and $200 in the car.

The three men taken into custody were identified as Michael Jones, 19, Eduardo Loza, 18, and John Clarke, also 18. All are from West Los Angeles, Meter said. The 14-year-old boy was from Los Angeles, he said.

The men were being held on suspicion of armed robbery at the Van Nuys Jail and the youth was taken to Sylmar Juvenile Hall, officers said.

Weber, 49, an official of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, was shot to death Aug. 22 while sitting in his car with his wife at a Wells Fargo Bank near Sepulveda and National boulevards. He had just completed a $40 withdrawal.