'Tri-Cities Bandit' Arrested After 10th Bank Job
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Aug 23, 2011 - 1:11:34 AM
Ernest Ivar Viana. Photos courtesy of FBI.
BRENTWOOD—On Tuesday, August 23, a man who has been tied to 10 separate bank robberies in eight cities including Brentwood since mid June remains in custody at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Malibu/Lost Hills Station.
On August 20, Malibu/Lost Hills police announced that 39-year-old Ernest Ivar Viana, a resident of Redway, Calif., was arrested by its sheriff's deputies after he was tied to the robbery of a First California Bank located at 32111 Agoura Road in Westlake Village on August 19 at 11:40 p.m.
Viana was reportedly driving a White Volkswagen Jetta when police stopped him on the I-101 Freeway at Topanga Canyon later that same day. The stolen money was recovered. He was arrested at 1:30 p.m.
and booked at 2:05 p.m. at the aforementioned police station on bank
robbery suspicion. No bail for Viana's release has been set.
"The
LASD and the FBI will work jointly to determine whether Viana will be
prosecuted at the state or the federal level," an August 20 police press release
states. Since then, it was reportedly determined that he will be prosecuted at the federal level when
transferred to FBI custody later this week.
FBI and police previously released information to the public in order to ask for help in finding Viana.
A request was made for
Viana to be released from police custody to U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement after sentencing to determine if he is subject to
removal from the U.S., booking details indicate.
Los Angeles
resident Oleg Gorokhovsky, 42, was arrested on June 18
at 4:20 p.m. by the LAPD West Valley Division. Gorokhovsky was later
booked at 5:55 p.m. at the Van Nuys Jail on an unspecified misdemeanor, booking details indicate. He was released
on July 19 on $6,660 bail, one month before he was arrested along with Viana.
Police earlier released details
indicating that Viana was seen by witnesses leaving U.S. Bank located at
1900 E. Foothill Blvd. in La Verne on August 17 and getting into a
white, later model four-door Volkswagen Passat-style vehicle driven by
another man. Though witnesses could not physically describe the second
man.
This is the 10th bank robbery authorities suspect Viana committed. Other robberies were of banks located in the cities of Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Los Angeles, Tarzana, Chino Hills, La Verne and Brentwood. The Brentwood robbery occurred at the Grandpoint bank located at 11661 San Vicente Blvd. on August 12. Crime report data indicates that the bank robbery occurred on that date at 4:45 p.m.
After the first three robberies in Burbank, Pasadena and Glendale, authorities dubbed the man responsible the "Tri-Cities Bandit."
During each of the 10 robberies, Viana allegedly entered the banks, handed tellers notes demanding money in large denominations and kept conversation limited, an FBI press release states. He dressed in buttoned-down or jersey-style shirts and began to wear sunglasses during the more recent bank robberies.
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Serving Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills. Brentwood, Laurel Canyon, Los Feliz, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Melrose, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Topanga, Canyon, Westwood & Hollywood Hills.
