COUNTYWIDE : 2 Banks Robbed, 1 Attempt Fails

Banks in Oxnard, Camarillo and Ventura were hit by robbers in three days, and one man may be responsible for at least two of the similar crimes, authorities said Saturday.

The First Nationwide Bank at 1055 S. Oxnard Blvd. was robbed at 11:20 a.m. Saturday, Oxnard Police Sgt. Frank Porter said.

A man holding out an open Manila envelope approached a teller, indicated that he had a weapon and demanded money, Porter said.

The teller put an undisclosed amount of money in the envelope, and the man fled, he said.

The robber was described as about 20 years old, with medium blond hair and a mustache. He was about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and wore a black sweater and khaki pants, Porter said.

A man using a similar method tried to hold up the Ventura County National Bank at 502 Las Posas Road in Camarillo on Friday.

The man--described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall with reddish crew-cut hair--handed the teller a Manila envelope folded in half, Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Kathy Kemp said.

When the teller unfolded the envelope, she found a written demand for money, Kemp said.

A second teller, unaware of the situation, came up and started chatting with the man. The man got nervous and ran out the door, Kemp said.

Kemp said agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation believe that the same man may have held up a bank in Ventura on Thursday.

In that case, the robber, described only as a white adult, used a note to demand money from a teller at Security Pacific National Bank at 9493 Telephone Road, Ventura Police Officer Diann McCaskill said. The man claimed to have a gun, she said.

The FBI declined to comment on the three cases.