VENTURA : Tip to Police Results in Arrest of Bank Robbery Suspects

Two men suspected of holding up an east Ventura bank Friday were arrested a short time later after police, following a tip from a passerby, staked out one of their homes and waited for the men to show up, authorities said.

Carlos Chacon, 29, and Arnold Valdivia, 31, both of El Rio, were arrested on suspicion of bank robbery after their pickup truck was stopped outside Valdivia’s Balboa Street residence.

They were being held at the Ventura County Jail with bail set at $20,000.

Police recovered an undetermined amount of money that they believe was taken from the bank.

The robbery occurred just before 10 a.m. at a Bank of America branch at 9493 Telephone Road, said Ventura Police Sgt. Roger Nustad.

One man entered the bank, told a teller he had a gun and demanded large-currency bills, he said.

The man ran outside to a waiting vehicle and fled the area.

A passing motorist who saw the man

running from the bank wrote down the truck’s license plate and notified police, Nustad said.

After tracing the license plate to Valdivia, police from Ventura, Oxnard and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department staked out his residence on the chance that the suspects would return there, said Ventura Police Detective Ray Vance.

When the men drove up, Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Wilburn stopped the vehicle and the pair were taken into custody without incident, he said.

“We were able to go over there on a fishing expedition and were lucky enough to catch the suspects,” Vance said.

No weapon was found in the men’s possession. Witnesses from the bank later identified the men as suspects, Nustad said.

“Once in a while you get a lucky break,” Vance said.

The bank robbery was the sixth in the county so far this year, said FBI Special Agent Gary Auer.