VENTURA : Three Repairmen Foil Bank Robbery

Three men who were repairing an air conditioner at the Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Ventura foiled a robbery on Friday and caught a suspect, Ventura police said.

A robber wearing a bandanna over his face and a dark blue watch cap entered the bank at 101 S. Chestnut St. about 10 a.m. and approached a teller, police said.

Bob Wagner and Dave Smith, from Cal-Air Conditioning Service of Whittier, watched the man pull a bag from under his shirt and show a knife to the teller, said Jerry Shearer, production manager at Cal-Air. The robber slid the bag to the teller, who filled it with cash and returned it to him, Shearer said.

After the man left the bank, Wagner and Smith followed him into the parking lot, Shearer said. Wagner tackled the suspect and Leonard Parks, another Cal-Air employee who was already in the lot, held him down, Shearer said.

Shearer said the suspect did not resist and Wagner recovered a bag full of money. They held the man until police arrived.

The suspect was identified as Terry Luken, 42, of Oxnard, police said. He was being held at Ventura County Jail awaiting an appearance before a federal magistrate, said Gary Auer, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Ventura office.

It was the 59th bank robbery this year in Ventura County, Auer said.