The Impatient Bank Robber
Ventura – In a scene reminiscent of Woody Allen’s “Take the Money and Run”, the East Ventura branch of Chase Bank was the scene of an attempted bank robbery on October 9th perpetrated by an unarmed 22-year-old with a short attention span.
Scene of Attempted Robbery
At approximately 1:30 in the afternoon, Noah Bickler, 22 of Ventura, entered the busy downtown bank at Telegraph Rd. and Kimball Rd., and proffered his handwritten note to a female teller demanding an unspecified amount of money. According to Ventura Police Department spokesman Cpl. Jack Ortega in his statement to the media, “the bank teller feared for her safety and went immediately to her manager”. For his part, Bickler stood his ground at the teller’s window expecting that she would return with his cash.
While Bickler was waiting, however, the manager was calling 911 Emergency. Just a minute later, a dispatch by Ventura Police Department Command Center responded to the call of a bank robbery in progress and had multiple patrol officers on the scene. Other patrol units reported to the nearby Juanamaria Elementary School and placed the campus on lockdown to prevent any potential fugitives from trespassing through those facilities.
As the patrol officers reporting to the bank location alighted from their vehicles, Bickler—who had grown impatient waiting for the teller to return with his bounty—was exiting the bank “hoping to appear casual until he ran across the parking lot,” Ortega reported. Like Woody Allen’s hapless “Virgil Starkwell” character, Bickler was confronted with armed officers who promptly took him into custody.
Bickler is not believed to be wanted for any other crimes, and has now been booked into Ventura County Jail on charges of attempted bank robbery.
Read more:
City of Ventura Press Release: Attempted Bank Robbery with Arrest
KVTA: Would-Be Bank Robber Busted in Ventura
Ventura EdHat: Attempted Bank Robbery
VCStar: Ventura Police Say Would-Be Robber Took Too Long
