A teller at a Midway Drive bank testified June 12 that she was held up by an apologetic robber who was arrested shortly afterward with all the stolen money.
Anthony Ray Barrett, 36, of Chula Vista, was ordered to stand trial on charges of robbing three banks. San Diego Superior Court Judge David Gill conducted the preliminary hearing.
San Diego police detective Thomas Levenberg said the $1,539 taken in the April 9 robbery of the Washington Mutual Bank on Midway Drive was recovered after Barrett’s arrest. Police also found $2,523 that was taken from another Washington Mutual bank robbery in Chula Vista the day before. Levenberg told the judge the robber discarded all the money not far from the Chula Vista bank after a hidden dye pack exploded.
Levenberg said $2,500 taken from a Union Bank branch in Chula Vista on March 7 was not recovered, however.
Carla Braga, a teller at the Midway Drive bank, testified the robber told her “to give what I could.” She said the bandit told her “I’msorry” twice before leaving the bank with the money.
Braga identified Barrett as the robber and testified she did not see a gun nor hear any specific threat. Nevertheless, she said the incident frightened her.
“I was shaking,” she said.
Traniece Jackson, a special agent with the FBI, testified she was present when police arrested Barrett near Interstate 5. She said Barrett initially declined to answer questions about the robbery but changed his mind after he was placed in a holding cell at a police station.
Jackson testified that Barrett admitted to robbing all three banks.
“He [said] he and his girlfriend were having problems making the
rent and he felt there was no other choice,” Jackson testified in court. She said she showed Barrett two demand notes used in two robberies and that Barrett recognized them and admitted he wrote them.
Under cross-examination by Barrett’s attorney, Michael Begovich, Levenberg said police could find no evidence that Barrett used a weapon or had a partner in the robberies. No one was injured in any of the holdups.
After being ordered to stand trial, Barrett pleaded not guilty to all charges. Gill set a trial date for Aug. 1.
Barrett remains free on $21,000 bond.