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19-Year Old Sierra Madrean Charged With Attempted Armed Robbery of Washington Mutual (posted 4/19/07) According to Police Chief Marilyn Diaz, a suspect was taken into custody and charged with armed robbery after an incident at Washington Mutual Bank on Wednesday. According to Diaz, SMPD received a call from an alarm company at 3:15pm, notifying them that an alarm had gone off at Washington Mutual, and that a suspect was traveling westbound on Sierra Madre Blvd., toward Windsor Ave. Within one minute, police surrounded the bank, and determined that the suspect had, in fact, left the building. According to witnesses and employees of the bank, the suspect had, without speaking, approached a teller wearing a ski mask (click photo to enlarge) , and handed her a piece of paper. Another employee reported seeing a bulging item and a flash of metal in the man's pants pockets. Two employees thought he was about to rob the bank, and so they hit the alarm. The paper that the man had put on the counter turned out to be a deposit slip, and was accompanied by a one hundred bill. After making his deposit, the customer then left very quickly and headed west bound on Sierra Madre Blvd.
According to Diaz, the police, through leads, determined where the suspect, Thomas Woodley, 19 of Sierra Madre lived, and determined that he was someone with whom the police had had previous encounters, though there were no previous arrests. A relative informed police that Woodley had gone to the Sierra Madre Library. Capt. Larry Giannone approached the suspect, at the Library. Additional officers arrived on the scene shortly thereafter, and the suspect was taken into custody. According to Diaz, the suspect's car was found in Arcadia, with the ski mask in it. The suspect was waiting at the Library for a relative to give him a ride. Sierra Madre Police took him into custody and charged him with attempted armed robbery, and after interrogating the suspect, released him pending further investigation. Diaz said that no weapons were found, however, the suspect did have a wallet and keys in his front pocket. The FBI was notified.
According to Diaz, the suspect told them that he did it as a prank, to see what would happen. Diaz noted that this was incredibly foolish, as there are many on and off duty officers who live in the area or frequent Sierra Madre businesses in the area, who might have seen him exiting the bank wearing the ski mask and might have reacted as though a robbery had occurred, particularly in light of Monday's events in Virginia. She added that members of the public who encounter questionable situations, such as this one, should get out first and ask questions later. |
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