Armed Robbers Flee Credit Union With Cash

Minutes after an armored truck company dropped off a load of cash Thursday, two armed robbers stormed the Premier America Federal Credit Union branch in Moorpark and stole a bag of money, police said.

The takeover-style robbery occurred about 2 p.m. and lasted only two minutes and 10 seconds, according to authorities. The robbers, who were carrying a long-barreled, blue steel revolver and a semiautomatic pistol, remained at large Thursday night, police said.

The credit union is on the ground floor of the two-story Litton Data Systems building at 6101 Condor Drive, one of three companies in an industrial park.

Four employees and four customers were inside the credit union during the robbery. No one was injured, but two tellers, a man and a woman, had their hands bound with plastic strips, police said.

The robbers, one wearing a fake reddish-colored beard, ordered customers to the floor before directing the bank manager to unlock a walk-in vault, police said. The robbers fled with a cloth sack stuffed with an unknown amount of cash, police said.

The getaway vehicle, a dark blue Chevrolet Astro van, was found abandoned about a mile from the credit union near Varsity Park Plaza on Princeton Avenue, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

A dozen deputies searched businesses in the shopping plaza and knocked on doors of nearby residences.

The industrial park, which is also the site of Moorpark Community School, a continuation high school and a park, was sealed off.

“They were unable to come up with additional leads,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Rick Hindman said after the search was called off.

Gary Auer, supervisor of the FBI’s Ventura office, described the robber with the fake beard as Latino, in his 20s, with short, light brown hair. He is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, medium to heavy build and was wearing a light-colored baseball cap, a long-sleeved, light-colored checked shirt with a button-down collar and light-colored pants.

The second man was also described as Latino and in his 20s, with short, dark brown hair, Auer said. He is clean-shaven and of medium build. He was wearing a long-sleeved checked shirt and blue pants.

Security cameras inside the credit union captured “really clear pictures” of both robbers, said Tom Gallanis, Litton’s head of security.

Authorities had few clues about the robbers’ identities, but said they would investigate the possibility that the men were familiar with the credit union, which cannot be easily seen from the roadway of the north Moorpark industrial park.

Credit union membership is open to employees of Litton Data Systems and their families and relatives, as well as employees of other industrial park businesses. Thursday also was the day Litton employees received their paychecks, Gallanis said.

The same credit union was robbed less than two years ago, Auer said.

On May 22, 1996, two armed men robbed the credit union minutes after an armored truck company had made a cash delivery, Auer said. Those robbers also abandoned their getaway car near the Varsity Park Plaza.

The 1996 robbery remains unsolved, Auer said.

Liz Condercuri, Premier’s senior vice president for member services, said the credit union immediately closed Thursday but would reopen for business today. Premier officials sent a team of security and crisis workers to the branch, she said.