Authorities believe the same man is responsible for a pair of Goleta bank robberies that occurred within 30 minutes of each other last week, and have linked him to recent holdups of banks in Carmel and San Luis Obispo. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department has released surveillance photos from the two Goleta robberies and is asking the public to help identify the suspect.
Los Padres Bank, 197 N. Fairview Ave., was held up at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 16 by a gun-wielding suspect described as a white or Hispanic man with gray hair, about 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds. He was dressed all in black and was wearing a ski mask.
Just before 6 p.m., a gunman entered Santa Barbara Bank & Trust at Camino Real Marketplace, 7078 Marketplace Drive, and demanded money. That suspect was described as a white man in his 50s, 5-feet-10 and 210 pounds. He was dressed in dark clothes and also was wearing a ski mask along with a baseball cap.
In each instance, the suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured in the robberies.
The FBI, meanwhile, has linked the suspect to two additional robberies at Citibank in Carmel on Dec. 15 and at First Bank in San Luis Obispo on Jan. 2.
Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at 805.681.4150 or the anonymous tip line at 805.681.4171.
Write to wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com
