Bank Manager Is Kidnapped in Botched Robbery

Robin Robert walked out her front door at dawn Thursday to get the newspaper--but instead became part of the news when she was kidnapped by several men intent on robbing the bank she manages.

The robbers--police are unsure whether it was three men or four--hustled the banker back into her house in the well-to-do Hollywood Riviera neighborhood in Torrance and asked for all her jewelry. They forced her into her bedroom to change from her night clothes to her work clothes, said Torrance Police Sgt. Ed LaLonde. At least one of the abductors had a gun, police said.

The kidnappers taped the wrists, ankles and mouths of Robert’s 9-year-old son, her female roommate, the roommate’s two children and the housekeeper, who were left lying on the living room floor, police said.

One or two of the men stayed behind while two others forced Robert into the back seat of her 1996 Mercury, driving her to the Great Western Bank branch she manages at 4401 Crenshaw Blvd.

What unfolded next was a scenario straight out of a Keystone Kops movie.

As the robbers approached the bank, they saw police cars, became frightened and drove away. They later returned to the bank parking lot; the police were gone but for some reason the assailants sped off again--only to collide with another car, authorities said.

They zoomed away from the traffic accident, eventually abandoning Robert and her car in the 1100 block of West 66th Street in Inglewood.

When Robert, who was covered with a blanket in the back seat, realized the men had gone, she ran to a nearby house and phoned the police. The men had not been caught by late Thursday, police said.

Meanwhile, one of the women tied up in Robert’s house managed to scoot over to a portable phone and dial 911. “In some form or fashion she was able to communicate there was a problem by mumbling,” LaLonde said. Three to four police cars responded, he said.

Robert, obviously shaken by the kidnapping, spent most of the day at her home watched by two private security guards hired by Great Western Bank. Television cameras stood sentry outside her house on Paseo del Pavon, but she declined interviews.

Residents living in the quiet neighborhood, whose streets snake up and down hills overlooking the ocean, were stunned to hear of the kidnapping.

“Oh, it’s frightening,” said Ritas Smith, who has lived in the area for 15 years. She said she heard the squeal of car tires sometime between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. but thought very little about it.

“We’re all real lax around here . . . but my housekeeper came today and said, ‘I imagine I’ll lock the doors.’ ”

Ruth Stevens, who lives next door to Robert, said she didn’t realize anything had happened until she saw police cars out front.

“I didn’t hear anything and Mr. Watch Dog here was totally useless,” she said, pointing toward a barking dog inside her house. “We all slept through the excitement. We think we might have been able to help if we had heard something.”

Stevens’ 11-year-old son, Jake Olson, tried to go next door to talk with Robert’s son, but was shooed away by police.

Stevens said she had not talked with her next-door neighbor about the incident late Thursday, but that wasn’t about to stop her from planning a celebration for later. She was going out to buy Robert a bottle of champagne.