Man is arrested in bank scare

He told employees to call authorities before taking off most of his clothes, witness says.

The would-be robber directed employees to call the police, then stripped down to his underwear and sat in a chair to wait.

SOLANA BEACH — An unarmed man walked into a Wells Fargo branch Thursday morning, ordered everyone to the ground while announcing his intention to rob the bank and then stripped to his underwear and sat in a chair to await his arrest, San Diego County sheriff’s officials and a witness said.

The incident happened just minutes after the 9 a.m. opening of the branch at Lomas Santa Fe Drive and Santa Helena, just off Interstate 5 in Solana Beach, said Sgt. Brett Garrett of the sheriff’s north coastal substation. The man also asked bank employees to report the incident to law enforcement, Garrett said.

Solana Beach resident Derek Stevenson said he was one of three customers inside the bank, along with a man and a woman.

“He shouted, ‘This is a robbery, everybody get on the ground!’ ” Stevenson recalled in a phone interview. “We all kind of froze and looked around, like, is this for real? But he repeated it aggressively.”

As Stevenson and the other man got down on their knees, the would-be robber began to take off his shirt and told the woman she could sit in a chair instead of getting on the floor, Stevenson said. After directing employees to call law enforcement, the man also kicked off his shoes and stripped down to his underwear, Stevenson said. He then sat in a chair near the front door.

A deputy who was in the area arrived quickly, Garrett said. After assessing the situation, three deputies and confronted the man, who surrendered without resistance.

The incident lasted about five to seven minutes, Stevenson estimated.

“We were all just quiet, while he sat down ... like he was waiting for police to arrive,” Stevenson said. “It was scary ... I still have a little adrenaline pumping several hours later.”

“The bank did not incur any loss,” Garrett said in a statement. “He was not armed, and there were no injuries as a result of this incident.”

A 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, Garrett said. He was later booked into the Vista Detention Facility, where he was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Although the would-be robber never pulled out a weapon and appeared to lack the actual motivation to rob the bank, “there was an initial fear that this guy was for real,” Garrett said.

“They thought it was a takeover-style robbery,” the sergeant said.

Garrett declined to speculate on the man’s motives or discuss statements the man made but said it was possible the man simply wanted to be arrested.

‘We were all just quiet, while he sat down ... like he was waiting for police to arrive. It was scary.’ — Derek Stevenson, a witness inside the bank during the robbery attempt