Police Investigating Series of Follow-Home Robberies of Bank Customers

Long Beach police are investigating a string of follow-home robberies in which suspects staked out the same bank and waited for their victims to make large withdrawals.

Five times since May 13 thieves have trailed customers of the Bank of America branch in the 600 block of West Willow Street before robbing them of up to $5,000 in cash, police said.

“They sit around the lobby and watch the patrons,” said Det. Steve Jones.

Long Beach officers were preparing to stake out the branch, he said, when Gardena police announced the arrest Tuesday of two suspects in similar crimes.

Although the Long Beach victims could not identify photos of the Gardena suspects, Jones said the two could be part of a larger coordinated operation that may be responsible for similar robberies in Inglewood, Los Angeles and Torrance.

In only one Long Beach robbery did suspects draw a gun on their victims, Jones said. In that instance the victim resisted, only to have his money torn from his pocket.

The most recent robbery occurred Monday and brought the total of cash stolen to just over $7,000. Sometimes the thieves stole victims’ purses by breaking a window of their parked and vacant car. In one case, a customer was chased all the way to Carson before the robbery was carried out.

Gardena Sgt. Bob Michaelsen said his department has linked four similar robberies from three separate banks during about the same period as those in Long Beach. But he said detectives will continue their work, since the fourth robbery occurred just hours after Tuesday’s arrests.