Bank manager intercepts robbery suspect

The only things missing from the scene outside a Costa Mesa bank Friday afternoon was a tumbleweed and a lasso.

When police said 25-year-old Sue Razo of San Bernardino rustled up some cash from the Costa Mesa Federal Credit Union with a note saying she had a gun and was robbing the bank then high-tailed it out of there, she ended up meeting the bank’s chief executive, George Lusk, 59.

“As soon as she left, the teller walked into his office and said we just got robbed,” said Tawnee Huynh, the bank’s operations manager. “He just darted after her. That’s George — he’s a cowboy.”

Indeed.

Wearing cowboy boots, Lusk hustled after Razo, who was briskly walking away from the bank, Huynh said.

When Lusk confronted Razo, she didn’t run away, instead, she told a bystander to call police because “a man was following her,” Huynh said. Lusk urged the bystander to do the same as he got in front of Razo, blocking her from heading toward the parking lot.

By then, a silent alarm in the bank had brought a posse of officers to the scene. Huynh remembers Razo inexplicably emptying the money from her pockets, but, fortunately it was eventually rounded up.

Police said she had nearly made off with about $3,000.

But when Lusk is there, getting away with the crime is all but certain officials said. Lusk stopped a robber in similar fashion a few years ago, though police stress that it’s extremely dangerous and should be left up to them.

Police booked Razo on suspicion of robbery.

Razo told detectives she used to repossess cars but had been out of work for nearly a year and was familiar with the area and the bank in particular, said Sgt. Frank Rudisill. She described herself as “quasi-homeless,” he said.

Authorities believe Razo may be responsible for robberies in Los Angeles as well.

She is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Lusk was unavailable for comment Friday.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.