5 Arrested in Botched Culver City Bank Heist

Three men and two women were arrested early Sunday in connection with a botched overnight bank heist in Culver City that police believe may be part of a string of 15 such thefts across Los Angeles County over the last six months.

In those crimes, thieves have disarmed bank alarms to gain access to automated teller machine vaults. Once alarms were deactivated, banks were entered through the roof, police say.

Sunday’s arrests came when officers responded to a Union Bank branch in the 4000 block of Centinela Avenue about 12:35 a.m. after a silent alarm was tripped inside the business.

Upon arrival, police spotted several cars that they said matched the description of vehicles used in other robberies, Culver City spokeswoman Randi Joseph said.

Police swiftly arrested the five suspects as they sat inside the cars, but maintained a perimeter around the bank until 7:30 a.m., thinking that other burglars were inside, she said. It was unclear whether the suspects ever made it into the bank. Joseph said additional suspects remain at large and the investigation is continuing.

Sgt. Craig Bloor said the five suspects, ages 21 to 31, were being held late Sunday on possible charges of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Joseph said additional charges could be filed by the FBI, which late Sunday supervised the serving of search warrants at the suspects’ homes. The names of the five were not released.

At the bank, police recovered several unspecified burglary tools but no money. “These people were obviously organized,” Joseph said. “They are gang-affiliated.”

Late Sunday outside Culver City police headquarters, officers dusted a Lexus and a Mercedes-Benz for fingerprints.

Before making the arrests, officers evacuated more than 25 people in two adjacent stores, including customers of a 24-hour grocery store. Many of the people were handcuffed and briefly detained by officers until it was established that they were not involved in the heist.

Thrifty drugstore manager Walter Jimenez said two assistant managers and six construction workers were inside the closed store after midnight when they received a call from a group that they believed to be the robbers.

“They sounded desperate,” Jimenez said. “They told one of my assistant managers ‘We’re coming over. Don’t call the police!’ I don’t know whether they thought they were going to sneak around back or come in here and rob us or what.

“But my manager told them, ‘No, you’re not coming over here. This call is being monitored by the police.’ ”

Moments later, police moved in on three suspected getaway cars parked in the darkened lot.