BEVERLY HILLS—Officers from the Beverly Hills Police Department arrested the wrong man in connection to a bank robbery that occurred on August 22. Authorities apprehended Charles Belk, a famed TV producer, who according to witnesses fit the description of the individual working with the culprit known as the “Purse Packing Bandit.”

Police arrested 47 year-old Brianna Clemons Kloutse, of Los Angeles, on Friday after an armed robbery at a bank on the 8400 block of Wilshire Boulevard. According to a press release sent to Canyon News from the BHPD, Kloutse robbed nine banks and attempted to rob two banks throughout the
Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills regions.

 

She was arraigned in court on Tuesday, August 26, where she was charged with nine counts of second-degree robbery and two counts of attempted second-degree robbery, noted the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. The robberies date back to October 2012. Kloutse is also facing charges for a robbery that occurred in December 2012 and March 2014. 


The victim often wore a wig, handed a teller a note and flashed what looked like a handgun or make it clear she had one in her purse, prosecutors noted.

 

Witnesses to the robbery on August 22 indicated that the female suspect was apparently working with a man who distracted other bank employees as the robbery took place. After a call was made to authorities about the robbery, police took Belk into custody as his clothing and physical appearance matched the characteristics of the male suspect who was seen in the bank according to an eye witness who positively indentified Belk in a field show-up.


As authorities continued their investigation, detectives determined that Mr. Belk was not involved in the robbery and he was released from police custody. Belk went to his Facebook page to discuss the details of the event that transpired.

 

“It’s one of those things that you hear about, but never think it would happen to you. On Friday afternoon, August 22nd around 5:20pm, while innocently walking by myself from a restaurant on Wilshire Blvd, to my car up LaCienega Blvd my freedom was taken from me by the Beverly Hills Police Department. Within seconds, I was detained and told to sit on the curb of the very busy street, during rush hour traffic. Within minutes, I was surrounded by 6 police cars, handcuffed very tightly, fully searched for weapons, and placed back on the curb. Within an hour, I was transported to the Beverly Hills Police Headquarters, photographed, finger printed and put under a $100,000 bail and accused of armed bank robbery and accessory to robbery of a Citibank. Within an evening, I was wrongly arrested, locked up, denied a phone call, denied explanation of charges against me, denied ever being read my rights, denied being able to speak to my lawyer for a lengthy time, and denied being told that my car had been impounded”¦..All because I was mis-indentified as the wrong “tall, bald head, black male,” … “fitting the description.”

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know at the time that I was a law abiding citizen of the community and that in my 51 years of existence, had never been handcuffed or arrested for any reason. All they saw, was someone “fitting the description.”

“The Beverly Hills Police Department deeply regrets the inconvenience to Mr. Belk and has reached out to him to express those regrets and further explain the circumstances. However, based on witness accounts, and his location close to the bank, officers properly detained and arrested him based on the totality of the circumstances known at the time of the field investigation,” states the release.


Belk went on to state on his Facebook page, “I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was an award nominated and awarding winning business professional, most recently being recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal at their Nonprofit & Corporate Citizenship Awards. They didn’t need to because, they saw someone fitting the description.

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was a well educated American citizen that had received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, an MBA from Indiana
University (including a full Consortium Fellowship to business school) and an Executive Leadership Certificate from Harvard Business School. Hey, I was “tall”, “bald”, a “male” and “black”, so I fit the description.

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was a Consultant for the NAACP, a film and TV producer, a previous VP of Marketing for a wireless application company, VP of Integrated Promotions for a marketing agency, ran Community Affairs for the Atlanta Hawks, was the Deputy Director of Olympic Village Operations for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, was a Test/Quality/Mfg Engineering Manager for IBM and was a Bond Trader on Wall street. Surely, folks that fit the description wouldn’t qualify as any of those.”

The BHPD protocol requires they go through the process of carefully verifying that Mr. Belk was not the suspect before they could release him. They had to take witness statements, coordination with the FBI and Los Angeles Police detectives who participated in investigating earlier bank robberies and looking at footage from the bank. The second suspect involved in the case is still at large and wanted by authorities.

Belk added in his statement on his Facebook page, “The sad thing is, prior to my freedom being taken from me for an easily proven crime I did not commit, I was walking back to my car, by myself, because I needed to check my parking meter, so that I wouldn’t get a ticket and break the law. In fact, if it wasn’t for a text message that I was responding to, I would have actually been running up

LaCienega Blvd when the first Beverly Hills Police Officer approached me. Running!

I want to thank GOD, Robin Lola Harrison of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, Robert Dowdyand Attorney Jaaye Person-Lynn , without whom, I am certain that I would still be locked up in the custody of the Beverly Hills Police Department. Based on comments made by a Beverly Hills Police Officer during my booking, and an FBI Special Agent, it appeared that they had tried and convicted me.

To everyone, especial black males (regardless of height, hair style or particular shade of “black”) – Hari Williams, Michael Marcel, Reginald L Shaw, Shawn Carter Peterson, Devon Libran, Aaron D Spears, Cedric Sanders, Cornelius Smith Jr, Catfish Jean, Ashford Thomas, Drew McCaskill, Carlton Jordan, Jawn Murray, AS Lee, Bertrand L Roberson Sr, Deron Benjamin, Hawk Oau, James Alan Belk, Juhahn Jones, Darryl Dunning II, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Stephen Bishop, Logan Alexander, Brandon Dmico Anderson, Jon Covington, Lamar Stewart, David Mitchell, Gerald Andre Radford, Gerald Edwin Rush II, Gerald Yates, etal, – I have always stayed as far away from being on the wrong side of the law as much as possible; so please, be careful. If something like this can happen to ME, it can certainly happen to ANYONE!

Time has come for a change in the way OUR law enforcement officers “serve and protect” us. We all do not, FIT THE DESCRIPTION.”

“I am very proud of our Police Department for the arrest of the alleged Purse Packing Bandit, who likely has robbed so many other banks in the Los Angeles area,” said Mayor Lili Bosse. “It is extremely unfortunate that an innocent bystander was mistakenly identified as a suspect. However, because of this positive identification and because multiple law enforcement agencies were involved, a thorough and lengthy investigation was absolutely necessary.”


The BHPD has launched an internal review because of the arrest of Mr. Belk. The allegations made by Belk are being taken seriously by the police department. “We are taking these allegations very seriously,” said Beverly Hills Police Chief David Snowden. “We (BHPD) take pride in the professionalism of our department and the high quality service that we provide to those who live, work and visit our community.”


“The arrest of Mr. Belk was lawful and proper based on the information known to the officers in the field at the time of the arrest,” he said. “However, we should have done a better job once Mr. Belk was taken into custody.”

Chief Snowden has given the case to his Professional Standards Unit to examine the allegations connected to Mr. Belk’s arrest to review policies, procedures, and protocols related to the processing of arrestees including arrestee access to phone calls and legal representation. He has noted that breakdowns in the department’s handling of this incident have already been identified and will be addressed.

“Ultimately, how we interact with the public we serve is what matters the most,” said Snowden.

If convicted of all charges, Kloutse could spend up to 14 years and four months in a state prison. Her bail was set at $550,000. The culprit who was assisting Kloutse is still at large.