On Monday, July 13, 2015, Liberty Bank in Felton was robbed. A security tape of the event shows a man wearing a white shirt, dark pants and a white cap with a bill. He was carrying a gun.
New Leaf employee, Chris Jakubisin, said “I was on my way to take care of the bank order when a squad car pulled up and the deputy sheriffs jumped out armed with guns.” There was a police tape separating the parking lot in front of the New Leaf Market and Liberty Bank.
A visitor from Los Angeles, Joe Wolf, said “I was in the bank just before the robbery and I was watching two men that I did not know were bank robbers.” Wolf said that the two men were dressed plainly. He said, “this is if the individuals I noticed were in fact the suspects.” Asked what they looked like, Wolf said “one was short and the other was tall and thin, very thin.”
Lt. Kelly Kent said that a single person carrying a black semi-automatic handgun locked four Liberty Bank employees and two customers in the vault. No one was hurt.
The robber was a Caucasian male in his early to mid twenties with no facial hair. He fled to the back of the bank said Lt. Kelly. He said, “it is possible that there could have been a second person who was a driver.”
Wolf said that about six minutes after the robbery, the deputy sheriffs showed up and closed down the street between Highway 9 and Graham Hill Road. The video shows the emergency vehicles showing up.
“There were six cars and three vans” said Wolf. “The officers were wearing bullet proof vests and they closed the streets down on the left and right sides and asked bystanders to clear the area.”
Scotts Valley Police Department sent their K-9 unit. The dog did not find the robber’s trail.
Crime Scene Investigators, detectives, FBI and patrol deputies are seeking clues, said Lt. Kelly.
Beth Hollenbeck called the Press-Banner and said that she had been asked to leave the area around the bank. She was able to photograph the scene from the south side of the bank.
A video made by Wolf shows a teller leaving the bank with his hands up as he approached an officer. Wolf said that if the officers had arrived about two minutes earlier it may have resulted in a hostage situation. He said “they got away without having to take a hostage.”
