Mistrial Declared for Teller Charged in Bank Holdup

A mistrial was declared Friday in the trial of a former Bank of America teller accused of helping her boyfriend, an LAPD officer, stage a $722,000 armed robbery of the branch where she worked.

After two days of deliberations, federal jurors reported that they were hopelessly deadlocked, 11 to 1, for conviction of Errolyn Romero, 27.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen G. Wolfe said he would seek a retrial, and U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi ordered both sides to return to court July 20.

Romero’s onetime boyfriend, David Anthony Mack, 38, was convicted of the bank robbery in a separate trial earlier this year. He is awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors said Romero arranged for the delivery of an extraordinarily large amount of cash to her Bank of America branch on Jefferson Boulevard and buzzed Mack through two security doors into the bank’s vault.

In her defense, she said she acted under duress. She said she did not know that Mack was planning to rob the bank Nov. 6, 1997, and was afraid to resist because he had previously threatened her.

Under questioning a month after the robbery, she reluctantly identified Mack as the bandit.

Most of the stolen money has not been recovered. Authorities are also trying to identify two other men who helped Mack carry out the robbery.