Teller

Three masked men robbed Washington Mutual Bank on Friday morning, escaping with an undisclosed amount of cash. The men entered the bank at 500 N. Glendale Ave. at 11:37 a.m. wearing ski masks and brandishing guns. They told everyone to get down, then went from teller to teller taking cash, police said. They then drove off in a van, which was found abandoned a few blocks away on Doran Street. Police said LAPD confirmed the van was stolen. Officers searched the area but did not find the men. Glendale Police Sgt. Kirk Palmer said in similar robberies, the robbers will have an accomplice waiting nearby with another car. "It appears to have been very well planned and executed," Palmer said.

Gretchen Hoffman GLENDALE -- Glendale Police are turning to the public for help in identifying a man who robbed a Washington Mutual branch at gunpoint. Bank security cameras provided police with two clear images of the suspect, one when he was standing in line for a teller and one when he was facing the teller with the gun. The man walked into the bank at 500 N. Glendale Ave. at about 3:40 p.m. Jan. 31 and approached a teller, police said. In his right hand, he held a black semiautomatic pistol, they said.

Amber Willard SOUTHWEST GLENDALE -- Persistence may be a virtue in some pursuits, but not for bank robbers, whose typical goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible. That was not the approach Tuesday of Kevin Phu, who allegedly approached and robbed a teller at a local Bank of America and then repeatedly sought a bank manager. The 28-year-old Los Angeles man was arrested Tuesday outside the bank at 3812 San Fernando Road after he handed a teller a note, claiming to have a gun and demanding money.

Amber Willard DOWNTOWN -- A 41-year-old transient man is scheduled to be arraigned today on suspicion of robbing a Washington Mutual bank. The man walked into the bank minutes after it opened at 9 a.m. Saturday and demanded money from a teller, according to police reports. When the teller told him she didn't understand, the man wrote a note demanding money be placed into a bag he handed her, police said. The man also threatened to hit her and told her he had a gun, officials said.

Paul Clinton GLENDALE -- Federal investigators continue their search for the "turn-and-walk bandit," who has been linked to robberies at three Glendale banks since early July. The FBI has also connected the robber -- an apparently middle-aged man -- to four other bank jobs outside the city. "We have him good for seven robberies," FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura said. Known to wear a baseball cap or fishing hat and dark, plastic-framed prescription glasses, the bandit typically robs banks in a casual manner, Mimura said.

BEING PREPARED DOESN'T PAY Talk about a prepared bank robber. A man who walked into the Bank of America branch Friday and handed a note to a teller and demanded money must have had an account with the chain. The robber brought his own Bank of America bag for the teller to put in the cash before he fled on foot. You have to wonder if he does that with all the banks he robs. NO LONGER CHIEF NITWIT Glendale Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg got a surprise from her colleagues Tuesday when they agreed with her over a discussion of downtown housing.

Paul M. Anderson GLENDALE -- The FBI is looking for a man who held up a Bank of America branch last week, Glendale police said Monday. The suspect asked a merchant teller if he could cash a $20,000 check, police said. The teller assumed the suspect was a businessman and let him come around the counter, police said. The suspect handed the teller a note demanding $20,000 and threatening to shoot him if he tried to trip an alarm, police said. The teller filled up the robber's bag with an unspecified amount of money and the suspect fled the bank on foot, police said.