Lancaster bank official held captive, forced to open vault
A man and woman in black ski masks accost her at home and keep her there overnight before robbing a Downey Savings branch of a 'sizable amount of money' the next morning.
Two robbers held a Lancaster bank's assistant manager overnight in her home before driving her to work Tuesday morning and forcing her to open the vault at gunpoint, investigators said.
The robbers, a man and a woman in black ski masks, escaped with a "sizable amount of money" from the Downey Savings & Loan branch, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Rust. He did not specify the amount.
The plot unfolded about 45 minutes after the bank employee, whose name was not released, arrived home about 6 p.m. Monday. The robbers slipped into her garage and attacked her when she went to retrieve some medication from her car, Rust said. They then forced her back into the house and held her at gunpoint until Tuesday morning, he said.
About 7 a.m., the robbers ordered the woman into her car and drove her to the bank. The man escorted the woman inside and forced her to open the vault so he could take the cash, Rust said.
The robbers then drove the employee home, told her to lie down on her bed and took off in her car. After they left, she dialed 911. Investigators recovered the vehicle, a blue 2008 BMW, about a mile from her home Tuesday, but the robbers remained at large.
Rust said robbers sometimes use employees to get inside a bank, but it was unusual for a person to be held overnight.
"The fortunate thing is that she wasn't injured," he said. "That's huge."
Zavis and Vives are Times staff writers.
alexandra.zavis@latimes.com
ruben.vives@latimes.com
