Bomb Scare Used in 1st of 2 Bank Robberies

Robbers struck two Ventura County banks Tuesday, with a lone man stealing from a Ventura bank and a pair of thieves hitting an Oxnard branch, FBI officials said.

A man wearing cutoffs and a red, hooded sweatshirt used a bomb threat to rob the Bank of America in downtown Ventura, said Gary Auer, the supervising agent for the FBI in Ventura County.

The man, described as white, in his mid-30s and about 6 feet, 2 inches tall with unkempt blond hair, walked into the bank on the corner of California and Main streets about 9 a.m., placed a plastic bag on the counter, told the teller that it was a bomb and ordered the teller to hand over money or he would set it off.

“He said the bag was full of explosives and that it would blow their heads off, and not to call police or they would be blown up too,” Auer said.

After the robber received a sack of money, he placed the device on the floor and walked out of the building.

The suspect was last seen walking west on California Street. The bank remained closed until the afternoon, while deputies with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad examined the package. It proved to be a fake, officials said.

A few hours later, two Latino men walked into the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust at 2385 N. Oxnard Blvd., handed a note to a teller demanding money and ran away with an undisclosed amount of cash, Auer said.

The men were last seen jumping over a chain-link fence near the bank. One was described as about 19 years old, 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds with dark brown hair. He was wearing a dark long-sleeve shirt. The other man was described as about 20 years old, 5-foot-4, 120 pounds and wearing a dark jacket with tan sleeves like a letterman’s jacket, according to witnesses.

Tuesday’s bank robberies bring to 46 the county’s total this year, Auer said.