VENTURA : Robber Holds Up Downtown Bank

A downtown Ventura bank was robbed Thursday afternoon by a man who police believe also fled with cash from two other Ventura County banks in the past two weeks.

According to authorities, the suspect walked into the Bank of America on Main Street about 3:30 p.m. Thursday and handed a teller a note saying he had a gun and demanding cash.

As the robber walked out with an undisclosed amount of money, a customer who had seen the robbery chased him into a thrift store on Main Street, authorities said.

The suspect managed to escape through a rear door and flee in a light blue Toyota that was parked in the lot behind the store, authorities said.

Based on his description and his technique of handing notes to the tellers, the suspect could be the same man who robbed the California Federal Bank in Camarillo on Tuesday and who held up the Bank of America on Victoria Avenue in Ventura on July 3, FBI Agent Larry Dick said.

The suspect is described as a white man in his mid-30s, about 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing about 190 pounds. He had short brown hair.

The FBI believes this suspect is not the same man who robbed two other county banks in recent months--a First Interstate Bank in Ventura on May 6 and an American Savings Bank in Thousand Oaks on April 13--though their descriptions are similar.