Jesse Blake Rogers, before and after
SANTA BARBARA — On January 4, 2016, clerks at the Santa Barbara Teachers Federal Credit Union were confronted by a young man standing before them bearing a hand-written note demanding money. According to Santa Barbara Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Riley Harwood, “no weapon was seen.”
But under the California Criminal Code, the presence of a knife, gun, baseball bat, ninja star, nunchucks, or large rock is not a prerequisite for an offense to qualify as a bank robbery.
A perpetrator could simply put an aggressive scowl on his face and whisper the words “give me all your money” to a bank teller and a felony has been committed.
Just two days later, on January 6th, Harwood issued a public appeal for information leading to the whereabouts of Jesse Blake Rogers, a 25-year-old from Santa Barbara who had been identified as the principal suspect in the robbery. Attached to the media alert was a mugshot image of Rogers portraying him as sporting a full head of hair with a stylish coiffeur.
As the investigation into Rogers’ possible whereabouts ensued, SBPD detectives were tipped to his possible whereabouts on January 12th.
With that specific information in hand, just after nightfall on the 12th, Rogers was spotted sitting in a parked car, whereupon he was contacted and—in spite of the fact that he now sported a recently-shaved pate—was identified and taken into custody.
Rogers was arrested and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was photographed with his new hair style, looking decidedly more like a bank robber now. He was then booked on a charge of robbery with his bail set at $100,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
