County Bank Thefts Down : Increase in East Region Blamed on Criminals From Outside Area

Ventura County bank robberies have dropped by half in 1993 as holdups in Oxnard and Ventura have plummeted from last year’s record highs, the FBI reported Monday.

But despite the drop from eight robberies a month to four countywide, authorities reported a disturbing trend in the east county: Bank holdups are up sharply, and out-of-county criminals are apparently to blame.

Total county robberies are down to just 44 so far this year, compared to an all-time high of 97 last year, mostly because heists dropped from 39 to three in Oxnard and from 22 to nine in Ventura.

But the key factor in that overall reduction--catching serial robbers quickly--has been a problem in the east county, said Gary Auer, FBI agent in charge in Ventura.

“We’re not solving those east county robberies,” Auer said. “Our expectation is that the (robbers) are coming from outside the county, and that makes it more difficult for us.”

Most Ventura County bank robbers are identified quickly through the cooperation of local newspapers, which publish photographs of repeat thieves, Auer said.

“When you run the photos of those people, if they’re Ventura County residents, somebody almost always knows those people. And we get phone calls within a day or two,” he said.

“But if they’re coming from Los Angeles County, the chances of somebody here knowing them drop dramatically.”

East county robberies are up from 11 in 1992 to 20 through the first 10 1/2 months this year, according to FBI statistics.

Thousand Oaks robberies are up from seven to eight, with seven weeks left in the year, while Simi Valley and Westlake each have had jumps from two holdups in 1992 to six this year.

And just over half of the east county robberies have been unsolved--11 of 20--compared to the west county’s 20 of 24 solution rate, Auer said.

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Overall, Ventura County has benefited from quick arrests, he said. In 1992, a handful of thieves each robbed several banks, and one robber held up 13 banks.

But this year, only one identified robber has committed more than three robberies before being caught.

“We got rid of the big-number guys. That’s a key,” Auer said. “In past years, the numbers have gone up rapidly when we’ve had serial robbers committing five to 10 robberies.”

Mark Tory of Ojai has been the year’s most prolific bank robber, allegedly holding up six over three months in Ojai and Ventura before being caught in late March. A jury found him guilty of five robberies, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Another suspected Ventura County bank robber, James Cuilty of Los Angeles County, was killed in a shootout while robbing an Orange County bank, Auer said. He was killed shortly after he robbed a Home Savings branch in Thousand Oaks on May 17, Auer said.

Cuilty’s shooting reflects a regional trend toward more violence and intimidation during bank robberies, an FBI spokesman in Los Angeles said.

While Southern California’s bank robberies are off 26% to about 1,500 so far this year, the region’s so-called takeover robberies are up 26%--to 379 in 1993, spokesman John Hoos said.

In contrast, Ventura County had just two takeover robberies last year and two this year, Auer said.

At a Sept. 27 robbery at the Point Mugu Federal Credit Union in Camarillo, two robbers took over the bank--one scaling a counter and moving from teller to teller as the other ordered customers to the floor, Auer said.

In a May takeover of a Bank of America branch in Ventura, a solo robber said he had a bomb and went from teller to teller, demanding that $50 and $100 bills be put in a small bag.

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None of the three suspects have been caught.

The FBI’s seven-county Los Angeles region, which stretches from San Luis Obispo to San Clemente, has repeatedly been the nation’s bank robbery capital when figured on a per-person basis.

Ventura County--after last year’s rash of robberies--approached the regional rate, but has fallen back this year to about half that rate. This year’s county totals represent 2.9% of the region’s, down from 3.7% last year.

Ventura County Bank Robberies

Year Total 1986 71 1987 60 1988 31 1989 76 1990 43 1991 52 1992 97 1993* 44

* Through Nov. 14

Source: Ventura County office of the FBI