The PT Cruiser bandit has apparently robbed his third Santa Clarita Valley bank in two months.
About 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, a lone male entered the Logix Valencia Promenade bank branch on McBean Parkway near Magic Mountain Parkway and held up the bank.
“Right now it appears – it appears – to be the same guy,” Lt. Chuck Becerra of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal.
Deputies dispatched to the scene were immediately given a description of a white PT Cruiser.
“It looks like we’re dealing with the same guy,” Becerra said, referring to two bank robberies in Newhall last month.
FBI agents continue to probe two bank robberies in Newhall last month, having released a photo of the suspect wanted for the first of what is now believed to be three local bank robberies.
The photo first appeared on the FBI-sanctioned website – LAbankrobbers.org – which is run by the FBI’s bank robbery coordinator.
The suspect was captured by surveillance camera wearing a white or beige baseball cap, sunglasses and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt.
The published photo is marked as having been taken at the Wells Fargo branch on Lyons Avenue at Wiley Canyon Road on June 12.
On June 12, shortly before 3 p.m., a lone male walked into the bank branch of Wells Fargo near the intersection of Lyons Avenue and Wiley Canyon Road and gave a note to a teller demanding money and indicating he had a gun, Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station confirmed for The Signal at the time.
No gun was seen, no shots were fired and no one was reportedly hurt in the incident, Sgt. Dan Peacock said at the time.
A white PT Cruiser was reportedly seen after at least one of the other two bank robberies.
Bank robbery investigators including FBI agents and detectives with the Major Crimes Bureau called in to investigate the robbery were called back to the SCV June 20 for a second similar robbery at the Chase Bank in Newhall.
In that robbery, like the one on June 12, a lone male walked into the Chase Bank branch on Lyons Avenue at Apple Street shortly after 5 p.m. and walked out with an undisclosed amount of money, having warned a teller he had a gun although no gun was seen.
“They are working on a few leads and do not wish to publicize anything currently,” Eimiller told The Signal said this week.
661-287-5527
on Twitter @jamesarthurholt
