Police have arrested a 62-year-old man on suspicion of finishing up three financial institution robberies inside about an hour in Temecula and Murrieta.
The person, Sonny Tho Leu, was detained by police in Murrieta after they stopped his car.
Based on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Workplace, the primary of the robberies occurred Tuesday morning at a financial institution on Margarita Highway in Temecula.
When deputies arrived on the financial institution at 11:51 a.m., staff informed them a person had handed a observe to a teller demanding cash. The teller complied, and the person left with an undisclosed sum of cash.
Financial institution staff stated he was sporting a blue shirt and baseball cap and carrying an orange bag.
Whereas deputies had been on the financial institution questioning folks, they discovered that an individual with the identical description had simply carried out two financial institution robberies in Murrieta “using the identical methodology,” the Sheriff’s Workplace stated in a information launch.
At 12:19 p.m., simply 28 minutes after deputies had arrived on the Temecula financial institution, the Murrieta Police Division obtained a name about an armed theft at a financial institution on California Oaks Highway.
A financial institution worker informed police that the person, sporting a black baseball cap and carrying an orange bag, had handed over a observe demanding cash whereas displaying a gun in his waistband.
Once more, a teller handed over cash, and the person fled.
At 12:58 p.m., whereas officers and detectives had been within the space looking for the person, one other name got here in after a theft at a financial institution on Hancock Avenue in Murrieta.
This time too a financial institution worker handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, and the person drove away.
The authorities quickly recognized the car, sharing the main points over police radio.
Officers stopped the automotive because the suspect pulled into the driveway of a house in Murrieta.
Murrieta police stated a search of the car turned up proof of the robberies, and Leu was recognized because the suspect in all three robberies.
He was jailed on suspicion of financial institution theft and felony threats.