Police Foil Bid to Rob ATM Vault; 1 Man Held

VENTURA — Responding quickly to a silent alarm, Ventura police officers foiled an attempt to break into an ATM vault early Tuesday, arresting one suspect.

Police believe that at least two men cut into the roof of the Bank of America at Telephone Road and Victoria Avenue about 4 a.m. and were cutting into a vault where cash for the bank’s automatic teller machine was kept.

“They had obviously done this before,” said Sgt. George Morris, an investigator with the Ventura Police Department’s major crimes division.

They are believed to be part of a criminal syndicate that is responsible for at least 40 other break-ins of bank ATM vaults throughout the Southwest in the last 1 1/2 years, said Larry Dick, a special agent with the FBI in Ventura.

“They are definitely related,” Dick said. “There’s a similar M.O. . . ., similar equipment used. The entries are done in the same way, and the attempts to open the machine vaults are done the same. It’s definitely a criminal organization involved.”

Only a handful of the thieves who prey on ATM vaults have been caught because the vaults are easier to get into than the main vaults in a bank.

“You catch one and they find someone to take his place,” Dick said.

Tuesday’s break-in was the first such burglary in Ventura County, he said.

Using a power grinder, the suspects were able to cut through the hinges on the ATM’s safe door, but did not get to the money before being spooked by police responding to the alarm, Morris said.

The thieves had apparently tripped a silent alarm when they got into the bank, Morris said.

Officers responding to the scene saw two men shimmying down a tree next to the building.

The two then ran across Victoria Avenue with several officers hot on their heels. One of the men, Ardian Simoni, a 28-year-old Downey resident, was arrested a few blocks away.

Simoni was to be brought before a U. S. magistrate today to face federal charges.

Police are still looking for the other suspect, described as a slim white man between 18 and 25 years old and about 6 feet tall. He was last seen wearing a maroon sweatshirt and dark gray sweatpants.

The FBI and Ventura Police Department are continuing the investigation.