Bank Robbed 2nd Time; 4 Suspects Held

Four Oxnard residents are in custody after robbing a Newbury Park bank at rifle point, terrorizing employees and a customer with a chemical spray and leading sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase in a stolen truck that ended in a Camarillo field Thursday morning, officials said.

Thursday’s robbery was the second in the past year for the Wendy Drive branch of First Interstate, which has easy freeway access. FBI officials said they are investigating similarities between Thursday’s crime and an Aug. 14, 1995 robbery.

“That was a takeover just like this one,” said Gary Auer, the FBI supervisor in Ventura.

Auer said investigators had already established a link between the August 1995 bank heist and a robbery at a First Interstate branch on Carmen Drive in Camarillo on May 18, 1995. The methods and descriptions of the suspects in Thursday’s robbery match both unsolved crimes, he said.

Thursday’s incident was the 27th bank robbery in Ventura County this year. Auer said the Wendy Drive heist fits a growing trend of attacks on banks in the eastern part of Ventura County. For years, robbers traditionally hit banks in Ventura and Oxnard, he said.

But more recently the targets have increasingly been in the Conejo Valley, where there have been eight robberies this year. Four were in Thousand Oaks, two in Westlake Village and now two in Newbury Park, he said.

Auer said the violence of Thursday’s heist was uncharacteristic of most robberies in the county. He said he couldn’t remember when pepper spray had been used before. Most Ventura County robberies are “note jobs,” where a note is handed to a teller and no guns are shown.

The two adult suspects in custody are Juan Plasencia, 20, and Jose Salas, 20, both of Oxnard. Names of two juvenile males, who are 17 and 16, were not released.

According to witnesses, two of the suspects burst into the First Interstate a few minutes before 10 a.m. They wore ski masks and pointed rifles at the seven employees. There were no customers inside at the time, police said.

The men “yelled and screamed” at the employees, said senior Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Christensen. They ordered the employees down on the ground, told them not to hit any alarms and demanded cash.

Bank managers handed over an undisclosed amount of money. Then, on their way out, the robbers sprayed a noxious cloud into the air.

“They discharged some kind of pepper spray, Mace or some kind of chemical in the air, probably to keep anybody from following them,” Christensen said.

A customer walking into the bank as the robbers were fleeing was sprayed in the face, he said. The customer and some employees were treated by paramedics for eye irritations, he said.

Most of the damage was to the frayed nerves of the employees, Christensen said. They gathered in the parking lot, crying and hugging.

“They were shaken,” he said. “This is their second robbery in the last year.”

For law enforcement, Thursday’s robbery had a happier ending than the August heist. This time, they have suspects in custody.

On Thursday, Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Berg was on his motorcycle near the base of the Conejo Grade when he heard a description of the suspects and their getaway car, a stolen white pickup truck with an AT&T; logo on the door. Minutes later, the truck went by him at more than 70 mph.

Berg followed the truck north on the Ventura Freeway, where it exited at Dawson Road. A sheriff’s vehicle and a helicopter joined the pursuit. The truck picked up speed on Pleasant Valley Road, and Berg said the suspects began crossing the double yellow lines to pass other cars when they realized they were being pursued. Going nearly 90 mph, the suspects tried to navigate a sharp right turn and spun out, colliding with a parked farm vehicle.

One suspect stayed in the car while the other three halfheartedly tried to escape into recently tilled fields. With a sheriff’s helicopter beating the air over their heads, they gave up quickly.

“They had a wild ride,” Berg said. “For Camarillo, this was one of our more exciting mornings.”

Back at the First Interstate, the doors remained locked for the rest of the day, although a note was placed on the door to tell customers the bank would reopen today.

Through the bank’s doors, a thick bulletproof plastic barrier was visible, running from the tellers’ counters to the ceiling. Nearby merchants said the shield was installed after the August heist.

“They have had a lot of action at this bank,” said Ron Uhlin, owner of the Forget Me Not flower and gift shop across the street. “We have always been concerned about safety around here because of the easy freeway access.”

Times correspondent Miguel Helft contributed to this story.