Police Hold Suspect in 3 Bank Robberies

Sheriff’s deputies in Thousand Oaks have arrested a third suspected bank robber in a week with the apprehension of a 36-year-old Newbury Park man accused of robbing three Ventura County banks this year.

Deputies arrested Larry Neal Dehnart without incident Sunday as he walked his dog outside the E-Z 8 Motel in Newbury Park, where he had apparently been staying.

Dehnart is being held at the Ventura County Jail on an outstanding arrest warrant for a parole violation. The FBI will present the bank robbery cases to the U.S. attorney’s office and to the federal grand jury in Los Angeles, deputies said.

Authorities say Dehnart left a fingerprint on a note given to a teller during a Feb. 8 robbery at a First Interstate Bank branch on East Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Deputy John Wright checked motel registries in the area and discovered that Dehnart was staying at the E-Z 8, Sgt. Rod Mendoza said.

Dehnart is also the prime suspect in the robberies of a Los Robles Bank branch in Thousand Oaks on Jan. 26 and a Bank of America branch in Newbury Park on Jan. 13, the FBI said.

Dehnart’s capture is the third of a suspected robber that Wright has made in three days. Mendoza said that Wright and his partner arrested two men attempting to make a getaway after the robbery of a Bank of America branch in Thousand Oaks on Friday.

Thousand Oaks deputies and the FBI believe they have solved four of the five bank robberies committed in Ventura County this year.