OXNARD : Traffic Stop Leads to Robbery Arrest
A routine traffic stop by police in Phoenix, Ariz., has led to the arrest of an Oxnard man wanted in connection with two Ventura County bank robberies, the FBI announced Tuesday.
James Guadalupe Beltran, 24, was arrested Monday when Phoenix police checked the National Crime Information Center after stopping Beltran’s car and learned he was wanted in California, FBI Special Agent Charlie J. Parson said. Beltran was scheduled to appear Tuesday before a judge in Phoenix.
Parsons said surveillance photos were used to identify Beltran as the suspect in an Oct. 19 robbery of a Bank of America branch on Saviers Road in Oxnard. After the photos were published in local newspapers, the FBI received phone calls identifying Beltran as the suspect, he said. Beltran is also believed to be the person who robbed a Wells Fargo Bank branch on Esplanade Drive in Oxnard on Nov. 4, Parsons said.
A federal warrant for Beltran’s arrest was issued Nov. 9 in Santa Barbara, and information about the suspect was then entered into the national crime center’s computer records, he said.
The FBI also announced Tuesday that Raymond Joseph Johns, 24, has been sentenced to 6 years and 5 months in prison for the July 3 robbery of a Security Pacific Bank branch in Thousand Oaks.
Johns pleaded guilty Sept. 22 to the robbery and was sentenced Monday.
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