Man arrested after three bank robberies in one day in Temecula, Murrieta – Press Enterprise

A 62-year-old man was arrested Tuesday, June 4, after investigators linked the suspect to a robbery in Temecula and two others that same day in Murrieta, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, at approximately 11:51 a.m., officers responded to a panic alarm at a bank at 40400 Margarita Road in Temecula, a sheriff’s news release said.

The press release said bank employees robbed the bank, a man who was last seen wearing a blue shirt, baseball cap and carrying an orange bag.

The robber handed the bank teller a note demanding money. The teller gave an undisclosed amount to the suspect, who fled the scene before officers arrived.

Officers learned of two other bank robberies that occurred in Murrieta on Tuesday. All robberies used the same method and the suspect description was the same.

Those robberies were reported at about 12:19 p.m. in the 40,000 block of California Oaks Road and at 12:58 p.m. in the 25,000 block of Hancock Avenue. Murrieta police said in a news release that the suspect in the first robbery in that city had a firearm in his waistband. The second robbery in Murrieta was also described as an armed robbery.

Murrieta Police subsequently located the suspect’s vehicle in the 35000 block of Crickhowell Avenue in Murrieta.

Murrieta officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver, Sonny Tho Leu, 62, of Murrieta.

Leu was identified as the suspect responsible for the three bank robberies, and authorities searched Leu’s home and vehicle and found “several items of evidence” linking Leu to the three robberies, the sheriff’s statement said.

According to Riverside County jail records, Leu was booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center on suspicion of robbery and terroristic threats.

Anyone with additional information about the robberies should contact Sgt. J. Hephner of the Southwest Station RBST team at (951) 304–5087.