VENTURA : Bank Robber Strikes Again, FBI Says

The fat man struck again.

The portly, note-passing bank robber, who often wears a baseball cap, robbed his seventh bank in Ventura County Thursday morning, according to the FBI.

This time it was the California Federal Bank on the corner of Victoria Avenue and Telephone Road in Ventura.

At about 9:30 a.m., he walked into the bank, showed a note to teller Clint Gabrielson, got the money and ran off, said FBI Special Agent Larry Dick.

“He showed me a note and said ‘Give me your large ones--no tricks,’ ” Gabrielson said. “So I gave him my 50s and 100s.”

The man is described as six feet tall and well over 200 pounds, Dick said.

The FBI has dubbed the crook the “second-drawer bandit” because he asks tellers to give him cash from their second drawer, which usually does not contain exploding dye packs disguised as stacks of money. The bandit does not display a weapon, but informs the teller he has one, Dick said.

He was last seen plodding through an empty lot beside the bank, presumably toward a getaway car, Dick said.

The fat man is on a winning streak. He’s robbed a total of nine banks, including Santa Barbara County, since early July, the FBI believes.

“We know what he looks like, but we still need more information,” Dick said.

Across Ventura County, 23 banks have been robbed this year, about three or four more than this time last year.

The FBI is also looking for a 5-foot-9, 160-pound man who they believe robbed banks in Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ojai in July, Dick said.