Gang Suspected in 3rd Heist at Bank in Thousand Oaks

Three masked men dressed in black held up a Bank of America branch in Thousand Oaks on Thursday, and authorities said it was possibly the work of a Los Angeles street gang that has now allegedly robbed the Hillcrest Drive bank three times in the past 22 months.

In each of the takeover robberies, witnesses told investigators that three males in dark clothing and ski masks barged into the bank, while yelling at tellers and customers to get down on the floor.

No guns were seen in the first two robberies, but witnesses told investigators that at least one handgun was used in Thursday’s heist, which was the fourth bank robbery in Thousand Oaks and the 27th in Ventura County this year.

Last year, there were 22 bank robberies countywide, nine of them in Thousand Oaks, said Special Agent Brent Robbins of the FBI’s Ventura County office.

Robbins said the three robberies at the bank followed a similar pattern. In each robbery, three people drove to the bank--located adjacent to The Oaks mall--in a stolen car, which was later abandoned in the parking lot of a nearby Pier 1 store.

The stolen vehicles used in the robberies in February and June last year were stolen in South Los Angeles, Robbins said. The stolen Chevrolet Caprice recovered after Thursday’s 11:20 a.m. robbery had been reported stolen from Hawthorne, adjacent to South Los Angeles, Robbins said.

“There is no such thing as a coincidence in a criminal investigation,” Robbins said. “Do I have any direct proof they are connected? No. Does my gut feeling tell me they are? Yes.”

Robbins said the gang is from Los Angeles but would not be more specific.

The bandits in Thursday’s robbery entered the bank and immediately began shouting at the four tellers and the one customer inside. There was no guard on duty, said Det. Steve Sagely of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

He said two of the robbers jumped over the counter and began pulling an unknown amount of cash and coins from the teller drawers while the third kept watch.

No one was injured in Thursday’s robbery, which occurred less than 100 yards from a security tower in the mall’s parking lot to monitor activity during the busy holiday shopping season.

Robbins said it’s unclear if the same people participated in the three robberies. Kumasi Yohance Dennis, 22, of Los Angeles was arrested shortly after the second robbery in June 2000 and later was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, Robbins said. The other two suspects were never caught and Dennis did not cooperate with investigators hunting down clues, Robbins said.

The latest bank robbery comes as Thousand Oaks is experiencing a drop in the most serious violent crimes compared with 2000.

A recent report by the state attorney general’s office showed that Thousand Oaks saw a 12% drop this year in the most serious crimes--murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, theft, vehicle theft and arson. This comes a year after a rash of bank robberies and several acquaintance rapes drove up the 2000 totals.

The last robbery in Thousand Oaks occurred Nov. 15 at a Bank of America branch at the intersection of Janss and Moorpark roads.

City leaders maintain the reduced number of bank heists can be traced to a task force established in March 2000 after the Conejo Valley had seven robberies in less than a month.

“Since the robbery task force, we have seen a reduction,” said City Councilman Dan Del Campo, adding that no plan can prevent all crimes. “There is a limit to what we can do. We can’t put a patrol car in front of very bank.”