Photo: Stock Image
Perhaps 19-year-old Fillmore resident Jair Camarena spent too much time on Netflix engrossed in movies like Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run or he thought that perhaps becoming a bank robber would win him the love of an attractive bank teller the way Ben Affleck’s character did in The Town; whatever his reasoning may have been on the afternoon of May 28th, he needed more going for him than the mere fantasy of conducting a successful bank robbery.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Jarrod Foote, it was just after the noon hour when Camarena entered the local Wells Fargo Bank branch in his own neighborhood and “handed the bank teller a note demanding money.” A conversation between the aspiring bank robber and the teller followed for a period of time and then Camarena “fled the location on foot.”
As these things go, an alarm was sent to the VCSD Fillmore Patrol Station which brought uniformed deputies, along with detectives from the Major Crimes Bureau to the scene. The ensuing investigation, which included detectives from the Fillmore Bureau of Investigation and the VCSD Major Crimes Bureau, identified Camarena as the suspect.
Three days later, patrol deputies spotted “a subject matching the attempted robbery suspect’s description” and contact was initiated with Camarena. While he was detained by the cops, a search warrant was obtained and served on his residence, leading to the discovery of “evidence linking Camarena to the robbery.” Camarena was then transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on a charge of attempted robbery.
