On Thursday, Oct. 27, at 5:04 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the First Republic Bank, located at 431 Wilshire Boulevard, in order to investigate a forgery suspect who was at the location. When they arrived at the scene they detained the suspect (a male 25-year-old Los Angeles resident) while they spoke with the manager.
The manager told them this man had entered the bank and had attempted to cash a check that the eagle-eyed bank teller had spotted as being possibly forged. The employees had contacted the owner of the account, and he had told them that he had absolutely no knowledge of this check; neither did he know the suspect.
The officers took a further interest in the activities of this suspect and discovered that he had cashed a check belonging to the same account holder at a First Republic Bank branch in Beverly Hills earlier that day. Just before the arrival of the officers the suspect had requested that he be given his identification back, and was attempting to leave the bank. The officers arrested this man, and he was charged with burglary, and attempting to cash a false check. The bail was set at $20,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
