The Cupertino Courier

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Cupertino bank robberies suspect is still at large

By HUGH BIGGAR

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said a bank robbery suspect nabbed Aug. 22 in Saratoga is not connected to a series of Cupertino bank robberies.

"He's not a suspect," said John Hirokawa, a commander with the sheriff's office. "We're looking for a black male adult [for the Cupertino robberies]."

On Aug. 22, the sheriff's office arrested Saratoga resident Robert Kevin Robertson on charges of bank robbery. Robertson allegedly entered a Saratoga branch of Bank of the West on June 2 and gave a teller a note stating he had a bomb. Police say the teller gave the man an unknown amount of cash and he left in dark-colored SUV. Police say Robertson is believed to be responsible for two other bank robberies, one in San Jose on June 6 and one in Campbell on June 9.

Even so, Hirokawa, who until this month was in charge of the sheriff's office's Cupertino substation, said witness descriptions have them looking for a different person in the Cupertino robberies.

Cupertino has experienced an unusual number of armed bank robberies since the start of 2006. The city, along with West San Jose and Saratoga, has had six robberies since January. In those incidents, a person has used a gun to demand money from tellers.

The person has fled on foot and in a car.

The most recent robbery took place July 12. Just before closing, a man wearing a mask used a handgun to rob two tellers of $37,386 in cash. In an earlier robbery, a man also handed a teller a note in Chinese asking for cash.

According to police descriptions, in at least two of the Cupertino robberies the person is "a dark skinned male, approximately, 6 feet tall and in his 30s."

Other than that, Hirokawa said, there are few leads and the person responsible is at large.

Individuals with information about the Cupertino bank robberies are asked to call the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office investigative unit at 408.808.4500.