EL TORO : 7th Bank Branch Robbed in a Month
A bank branch was robbed here Wednesday, the seventh in a string of robberies to hit South County banks in the last month.
County sheriff’s officials said no one was injured in the 12:22 p.m. robbery of the National Bank of Southern California, 22831 Lake Forest Drive. The robber, a man dressed in a denim jacket and jeans, handed a teller a note demanding cash.
The teller gave him an undisclosed amount of cash and the man--described as being in his 30s, blond, 5 feet, 8 inches tall and thin--fled on foot without displaying a weapon, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson said.
Bucky Cox, senior resident agent of the Orange County FBI office, said the robbery does not appear to be connected with the other robberies.
However, he noted the unusual increase in South County bank robberies during the last month: “Until recently, we were able to keep a lid on things in the South County. But recently, there have been more robberies there than normal.”
At least two of last month’s robberies were committed by one person, while a third appears to be connected with a string of robberies committed in the central county, Cox said.
A suspect has been arrested in one of the South County robberies.
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