WEST COVINA — A man tried to rob a bank branch Friday, but apparently got spooked and fled empty-handed, police said.
The crime took place just after 9 a.m. at a Bank of America branch in the Eastland Shopping Center, 2901 Eastland Center Drive, West Covina police Lt. Richard Bell said.
A man entered the bank and handed a demand note to a teller, the lieutenant said.
The teller did not respond, he said, and the robber seemingly became nervous and fled the bank without any money.
He was last seen heading north from the bank on foot.
Police described the would-be robber as a bearded Latino man of slightly heavy build, wearing a dark shirt, blue jeans, a baseball cap and multicolored gloves.
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Pink-clad, hatchet wielding Darth Vader bank robbery suspect arrested in Rowland Heights
ROWLAND HEIGHTS — An Albertsons clerk was behind bars Friday on suspicion of robbing a bank branch inside the grocery store where he worked while wielding a hatchet and wearing pink scrubs and a Darth Vader mask, authorities said.
Gregory Sanchez, 46, of Rowland Heights was arrested about three hours after Thursday’s 11 a.m. robbery at the Bank of America branch inside an Albertsons store, 19725 E. Colima Road, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Capt. Michael Parker said.
Sheriff’s and FBI investigators identified Sanchez, a courtesy clerk at the Albertsons where the robbery took place, as a suspect in the crime shortly after it occurred, the captain said. “By then, he had gone to work.”
“He was arrested about 50 feet from where the robbery occurred,” Parker said.
Sanchez is accused of entering the store with a hatchet dressed in pink medical scrubs and a Darth Vader mask from the Star Wars series of movies.
The movie mask was initially reported to sheriff’s officials by a witness as a sun visor and a long black wig.
Brandishing the hatchet, he demanded cash from a teller at the bank branch inside the store and received an undisclosed amount before fleeing in a tan sedan, Lt. John Saleeby said.
Sheriff’s officials declined to say how Sanchez was identified as a suspect prior to his arrest.
According to sheriff’s booking records, he was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the sheriff’s Walnut-Diamond Station. He was due for arraignment Tuesday at West Covina Superior Court.
“Bank robbery is a very serious matter and very frightening to victims and witnesses,” Saleeby added in a written statement. “We are glad no one was hurt and that we have a suspect in custody.”
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Man pleads no contest to threatening public officials
ALHAMBRA — A man who tried to get his estranged wife in trouble by making it look like she was threatening public officials, including Sheriff Lee Baca, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm springs, pleaded no contest Thursday.ichael Karl McNeil, 37, of Susanville, sent the e-mails in July 2008 using an e-mail account he created to “set up his estranged wife,” said Deputy District Attorney Jose Gonzalez.He pleaded no contest to six counts of criminal threats and three counts of attempted criminal threats, Gonzalez said.he charges to which McNeil pled involve threats against Baca, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective who investigated the case, Lassen County District Attorney Bob Burns, a Lassen County judge and a staff member from Mack’s office.he attempted threats involved Boxer, Mack and Lassen County Public Defender David Marcus.cNeil, a former U.S. Forest Service firefighter, has been in jail since his Aug. 6, 2008, arrest by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Arson Explosives Detail.He is facing 19 years and eight months in prison, with sentencing set for March 10 before Alhambra Superior Court Judge Laura Priver.ore than two-dozen other counts against McNeil are expected to be dismissed when he is sentenced.