OXNARD : Suspect in 10 Bank Holdups Is Arrested

A 50-year-old man was chased down Wednesday by employees, customers and bystanders after an Oxnard bank robbery, police said.

Thomas Cooper Oretta, a transient, was identified by the FBI as a suspect in nine other holdups in the past three months. Oretta was arrested by Oxnard police after he was captured near the Security Pacific Bank branch on Saviers Road, Sgt. Denny Phillips said.

A robber entered the bank shortly after 10 a.m., presented a demand note to a teller and fled with an undisclosed amount of money, Phillips said.

Bank manager James Adams was outside checking on the bank’s automated teller machine when customer Raymond Landon told him that the bank had been robbed and pointed toward a man running across Channel Islands Boulevard.

Adams and Landon both sprinted after him. Eddie Hout, servicing his car across the street, saw the chase and followed in his car after the suspect. Another bystander, John Estrada, also joined in the pursuit.

At a nearby fast-food stand, Hout used his car to block Oretta, and the other men held Oretta until officers arrived, Phillips said.

The money taken from the bank was recovered, Phillips said. Later, the FBI identified Oretta as the suspect in a string of Ventura County bank robberies between Oct. 28 and Jan. 24, said FBI Special Agent Charlie J. Parsons.

Seven of the previous robberies were in Oxnard, and the other two were in Ventura, Parsons said.