Bank robbery suspect ID’d
Jason Teas is being held on $125,000 bail. Authorities say he did not make off with any money from the Bank of America at Point Dume.
By Melissa Caskey
Staff Writer
Authorities have identified the suspect in last Tuesday’s attempted Malibu bank robbery as 32-year-old transient Jason Teas, who was known to frequent the Malibu area.
Teas was arrested on Nov. 19 and charged with two felonies: attempted robbery and evading police. He is now being held in downtown Los Angeles at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility on $125,000 bail as of this week, an increase from an initial $10,000 bail amount listed last Thursday. Teas is due in court on Thurs., Dec. 5, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
In an interview with The Malibu Times, Los Angeles County Major Crimes Det. Angel Matute confirmed that Teas did not make off with any money during the attempted theft and did not have a weapon on him. Teas does not have a prior criminal record and was known to spend most of his time in the Malibu area.
Shortly after 9 a.m. last Tuesday, Matute said Teas allegedly handed a note to a teller at the Bank of America at the Point Dume Village, but grew impatient and left after noticing the teller had pressed a 911 emergency button.
“I think he realized that he was waiting too long and they had pressed the 911 button and he got scared,” Matute said.
SunLife Organics owner Khalil Rafati said he helped catch Teas when he followed him out of the bank and down the street as Teas fled to a black truck.
Rafati described Teas as “just a big guy with a hat and a hood on.”
Rafati followed the suspect as he walked up Heathercliff Road and Dume Drive toward an older model black truck. He said the suspect got in the truck and took off after seeing Rafati, who was still on the phone with the 911 operator. Teas then made a u-turn to drive up Dume Drive, away from Pacific Coast Highway. Rafati chased after the car, but could not follow it as it eventually looped around to the PCH.
“As I was running, I could hear the sirens running,” he said.
After authorities tracked down the truck, a short police chase ensued, ending in a collision near Zuma Beach. Teas crashed his truck into a street sign but was not injured. He was immediately taken into the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff ’s Station for booking.
Suzanne Marsh, who was inside the bank at the time of the alleged robbery, said employees remained calm during the robbery. She said a teller instructed her to leave the bank.
“He said, ‘I have to ask you to leave the bank,’” she said. The teller led her and other customers outside and asked to borrow a phone to call 911.
Rafati, whose store has been in the Point Dume Village for about two and a half years, said this was not the first robbery he’s heard of at the Bank of America or the adjacent Chase Bank. In 23 years of living in Malibu, he said he’s heard of at least six robberies between the banks, but that suspects are not always caught.
“Normally, the people get away,” Rafati said. “The police… thanked me and they said, ‘We just got him. We never would have got him if it weren’t for you.’”
The Bank of America branch at Point Dume Village declined to comment on the attempted robbery and a corporate media representative said the company would not comment on an ongoing police investigation.