2 Teenagers Charged in Armed Robbery of Bank

Two San Fernando Valley teenagers were charged Wednesday with armed robbery and assault for allegedly using guns to herd tellers and customers of a Woodland Hills bank into the vault and then stealing more than $75,000, prosecutors said.

The older teen, Jason Bradley Weiss, 19, of Chatsworth, has been charged with three counts of robbery and one count of assault with a firearm in Monday’s heist at a California Federal Bank branch.

Weiss crashed an alleged getaway car and escaped police by sprinting through The Promenade mall. He was arrested at a pool hall later that evening, authorities said.

His 16-year-old alleged accomplice, a Mission Hills youth, faces robbery and assault charges in Juvenile Court.

“We do have a select group of [younger] gangbangers who commit takeover bank robberies,” said Los Angeles Police Det. Robert Kestler of the robbery detail. “But most are not that young.”

“That’s not my experience,” countered Carol Fisch, the deputy district attorney who is prosecuting Weiss. “I’ve seen fairly young people going out and committing these types of robberies. And they are getting much more brazen.”

The robbery occurred shortly after 3:15 p.m. Monday when two males, one armed with a handgun and the other with an assault rifle, entered the bank branch at 21945 Erwin St., near Topanga Canyon Road, police said.

The robbers demanded cash from tellers and then forced customers and employees into the vault at gunpoint. Once everyone else was inside the vault, the gunmen emptied money drawers and then cleaned out several tellers’ stations, authorities said.

A security guard alerted authorities, who arrived just as the robbers were leaving. The pair jumped into a car and drove about a block on Topanga Canyon Road before they crashed into a parked car, police said.

The 16-year-old was caught immediately, but his partner disappeared into The Promenade.

Police recovered cash and weapons from the car.

West Valley Division officers tied Weiss to the crime through the registration of the car that crashed. Acting on a tip, they tracked him to a local pool hall and arrested him.

“This was a very sophisticated robbery” where “a lot of planning appeared to go into it,” said Fisch. Weiss is being held on $200,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 23, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said.

The 16-year-old is being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall awaiting arraignment this morning. Prosecutors say they will seek to try him as an adult.

“With an alert security guard, and police close at hand on a rainy day, everything turned out well,” said Lt. Ray Lombardo of the West Valley Division.