Robbers Hit Bank in Same Building as FBI

It was a bit like stealing cheese from a mousetrap.

A trio of robbers hit a Washington Mutual branch housed in the same building as the local FBI office Monday morning, tearing away in a white Chevrolet Malibu as an FBI agent was standing outside.

The agent raced to his car to give chase, but lost the robbers as they sped off, heading south on Victoria Avenue, said David Nesbitt, FBI agent in charge of the Ventura office.

“If he had been in his car, we’d have had a much better chance of catching [the robbers] then,” he said. “By the time they got on Victoria, they were out of sight.”

Two of the robbers, wearing ski masks and armed with semiautomatic weapons, walked into the bank in the 2000 block of South Victoria Avenue shortly before 9:30 a.m. and demanded money from each of three tellers, said a witness who declined to give her name.

“They didn’t yell,” she said. “They just kept saying, ‘Quick, quick, put the money on the counter.’ They acted like the customers weren’t even there. I don’t think they realized the FBI was in the building.”

About a dozen bank employees and 15 customers were inside the bank during the robbery. There were no injuries and no shots were fired.

The holdup took about a minute. During that time, the robbers were in contact with the getaway driver by walkie-talkie, Nesbitt said. Afterward, the two exited through a side door and ran to the parking lot where the car and driver were waiting.

A silent alarm alerted police and sheriff’s deputies to the robbery, Nesbitt said.

Police arrived moments later. Agents were “right on [the robbers’] heels,” said Police Sgt. George Morris.

The robbers’ getaway car had Auto Nation dealership plates. FBI agents believe the new car was probably stolen, Nesbitt said.

The amount of money taken was not disclosed, and the robbers are still at large.

The FBI believes that this is the first robbery at this site, Nesbitt said. The bank was formerly a Home Savings of America, but recently became a Washington Mutual branch following a takeover.

The FBI’s Ventura office is on the second floor of the bank building. It is marked only by a door in the building’s vestibule. The bank branch is on the first floor.

There is no alarm to alert the FBI office during a bank robbery. And there are no plans to have one installed, Nesbitt said.

“We’re just a tenant of the building,” he said. “We pay rent like any other.”