Police Follow the Wrong Man After Robbery

Authorities say a man in his early 30s wearing a baseball cap robbed a branch of Great Western Bank in Thousand Oaks on Monday morning, making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

At least 10 people were inside the bank, located in the 3900 block of East Thousand Oaks Boulevard, during the 10 a.m. robbery. No one was injured, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Ernie Montagna.

About an hour later, deputies took a female teller to the San Fernando Valley to identify a man they thought was the suspect, FBI Special Agent Gary Auer said. He was seen riding away from the bank on a motorcycle, and sheriff’s deputies--on the ground and in a helicopter--followed him south on the Ventura Freeway to Reseda.

However, the teller told authorities that the man was not the robber, Auer said. He was later released.

Auer said the robber entered the bank and handed the teller a note that demanded money and warned that he had a gun. He also told the teller of his weapon, but no gun was seen, according to Auer.

The teller handed the man the cash, and he ran out the back door of the bank and was last seen walking toward the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall, Auer said.

The robber was described as a white male in his 30s, 5 feet, 10 inches, 165 pounds, with short dark hair. He was wearing a stonewashed jeans jacket, two-tone baseball cap, sunglasses and a button-down flannel shirt, predominantly white in color, Auer said.

Witnesses said the man looked like a transient.

Auer said the suspect in Monday’s robbery also is wanted in connection with a Dec. 31 holdup at Camarillo Community Bank, in the 3200 block of West Agoura Hills Road in Westlake Village.