LOCAL : S&L; Manager and Husband Held in Palmdale Home by 2 Bandits

A manager of a savings and loan branch office and her husband were held captive in their Palmdale home for a day by two robbers who then forced the woman to go with them to the savings office this morning in an unsuccessful attempt to rob it, authorities said.

The manager was rescued unharmed after she triggered a silent alarm inside the Southern California Savings branch in Newhall, alerting Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. One of the alleged kidnapers was arrested after a short chase while the other was still being sought late this morning.

The identities of the manager and her husband were not immediately released, nor was the name of the arrested suspect. Deputies said the suspects broke into their home Thursday morning when only the manager was home. They forced her to call her husband, a firefighter, and tell him to come home from work because she was ill.

After the husband arrived, the couple were held captive but unharmed inside the home until this morning. At 5 a.m. the husband was bound and left in a bathroom by the suspects, who took the wife to the savings and loan office.

Authorities said the woman was forced to open the office in the 26400 block of Sierra Highway. However, the vault could not be opened because of a time lock system and no money was turned over, said John Doyle, a spokesmen for Southern California Savings.