Bank robbery suspect arrested

A Laguna Beach parolee was taken into custody Tuesday morning in connection with the U.S. Bank robbery the day before, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Bill Wright Wells, 22, was arrested with two charges of bank robbery. He was considered at-large by his parole officer.

He is also the suspect in a May 16 Lake Forest bank robbery.

At 4:22 p.m. Monday, dispatchers received a 911 call from an employee at the bank on Glenneyre Street, saying a man approached a teller with a note indicating he was robbing the bank and threatened to hurt her if she didn’t hand over the money. No weapon was seen or used during the robbery. There were no injuries.

The teller gave him an undisclosed amount of cash and he then fled southbound on Second Street, according to a Laguna Beach Police Department news release.

On May 16, a suspect robbed a Citi Bank in the 20000 block of El Toro Road in Lake Forest. He had a similar description and also passed a threatening note to a female teller.

Police released photos early Tuesday morning of the Laguna suspect, who was described as white man, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with dark hair and in his early 20s. He was wearing blue jeans, a dark sweatshirt, white tennis shoes and an off-white colored baseball hat.

— Jamie Rowe and Joanna Clay