Suspect arrested in three Southern California bank robberies within an hour

Police have arrested a 62-year-old man on suspicion of committing three bank robberies in Temecula and Murrieta within about an hour.

The man, Sonny Tho Leu, was arrested by Murrieta police after they stopped his vehicle.

According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, the first robbery occurred Tuesday morning at a bank on Margarita Road in Temecula.

When officers arrived at the bank at 11:51 a.m., employees told them that a man had given a teller a note demanding money. The teller complied and the man left the bank with an undisclosed amount of money.

Bank employees said he was wearing a blue shirt and baseball cap and was carrying an orange bag.

While officers were questioning people at the bank, they learned that a person matching the same description had recently committed two bank robberies in Murrieta “using the same method,” a sheriff’s office news release said.

At 12:19 p.m., just 28 minutes after officers arrived at the bank in Temecula, Murrieta Police received a call about an armed robbery at a bank on California Oaks Road.

A bank employee told police that the man, who was wearing a black baseball cap and carrying an orange bag, handed over a note demanding money and showed a gun in his waistband.

Again a cashier handed over money and the man fled.

At 12:58 p.m., while officers and detectives were searching the area for the man, another call came in about a bank robbery on Hancock Avenue in Murrieta.

This time, too, a bank employee handed over an undisclosed amount of money and the man drove away.

Authorities soon identified the vehicle and released the details over police radio.

Officers stopped the car as the suspect pulled into the driveway of a home in Murrieta.

Murrieta police said a search of the vehicle found evidence of the robberies and identified Leu as a suspect in all three robberies.

He was arrested on suspicion of bank robbery and criminal threats.