OXNARD : Chase Follows Bank Robbery; 2 Arrested

Two Ventura County residents were captured by Oxnard police Monday after fleeing the scene of a late-afternoon bank robbery, authorities said.

Jonathan Lee Smith, 22, of Oxnard and Lynette Conrad, 20, of Port Hueneme were arrested on suspicion of bank robbery, Oxnard Police Sgt. Gene Thayer said.

Smith entered the Wells Fargo Bank branch at 460 Esplanade Drive at 4:33 p.m. and presented the teller a note demanding money, Thayer said. He said the note claimed that the person presenting it had a gun, but no weapon was displayed or recovered.

The teller handed an undisclosed amount of money to the robber, who witnesses said fled in a blue late-model Toyota van. Patrol officers came upon a van matching that description being driven on Esplanade Drive. Its female driver refused to pull over to the curb, and instead drove to a parking lot in the 400 block of West Gonzales Road, police said.

Thayer said the van stopped in the lot and Smith jumped out and ran into a nearby apartment complex. Officers chased him and detained him briefly at gunpoint. But Smith managed to escape when the officers dropped their guard, Thayer said. A police dog summoned to search the area found Smith trying to hide under a back-yard tree, he said.

Conrad was arrested at the van, Thayer said.

He said the FBI will take over the case for prosecution under federal bank robbery law.