Credit union in downtown L.A. is robbed
Los Angeles Police detectives did not have far to go to investigate this crime.
The credit union across the street from the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters building was robbed Tuesday morning for the second time in four months. Police said the bandit got away on a bicycle with about $1,000 in cash.
Los Angeles Police Lt. Paul Vernon said the robber was wearing a distinctive black backpack with small white polka dots when he entered the Southland Credit Union in the 200 block of South Spring Street about 10:25 a.m.
The suspect did not display a weapon. He presented a note and the teller handed over the money. The man then fled eastward and abandoned his bicycle in a downtown parking lot, Vernon said.
“It was the same M.O. as the robbery Aug. 24 with the man fleeing on a bicycle. It was the same teller. But the teller says it was a different man,” said Vernon. “It is possible that it could be a member of the same robbery crew.”
The thief is described as a black male between 5 feet, 8 inches and 6 feet tall and has a thin to medium build and a shaved head. He was wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans.
The mountain bike recovered a few blocks away will be checked for fingerprints, Vernon said. Detectives will also examine the credit union’s cameras for images of the suspect. Police said there was a dye packet with the money.
Vernon said the Aug. 24 robbery netted very little cash. A dye pack handed over with the cash by a teller exploded over the money, making it unusable. Vernon said “a homeless man found all but about $40 of the money and tried to exchange it.”
Los Angeles County bank robberies totaled 171 in 2008, the first increase since 2000. That’s less than one quarter of those in the early 1990s.
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