THOUSAND OAKS : Suspect Held in 2 Bank Robberies
Deputies chased down and arrested an Arizona man suspected of robbing two Thousand Oaks banks in a half-hour period Thursday, authorities said.
Michael Todd Lopez, 44, was caught by deputies on Moorpark Road after customers at one of the two banks alerted authorities to his whereabouts, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department report said.
Deputies said Lopez entered the First Interstate Bank on Moorpark Road holding what appeared to be a firearm and handed a demand note to a bank teller. He then ran to a nearby Wells Fargo Bank on Thousand Oaks Boulevard and made the same demands, authorities said.
Deputies responding to the first bank were alerted to the second robbery, and witnesses pointed them in the direction Lopez fled, authorities said.
Lopez was chased by deputies, who caught him at the corner of Hillcrest Drive and Moorpark Road. After catching Lopez, deputies said they recovered a toy gun, clothing used in the robberies and a binder containing $3,000 in cash.
The investigation into the robberies is continuing, authorities said.
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