On Tuesday, sheriff’s deputies arrested a man suspected of robbing a bank in Guerneville on New Year’s Eve.
Bradley Bennett, 33, a transient living in the area, is alleged to have walked into a bank on the 16000 block of Main Street in Guerneville and handed a note demanding money to a teller. The note reportedly alluded that Bennett had a weapon.
Authorities said the teller gave Bennett an “undisclosed amount of cash” before Bennett walked out of the bank and fled the scene by bicycle.
“It is unknown if the suspect was armed; he did not show or use a weapon. Nobody was injured during the robbery,” a Dec. 31 Sonoma Sheriff Facebook post reported.
According to the post, deputies quickly identified Bennett from video surveillance of the incident, releasing a description and photo and asking the community to call 911 if he was spotted.
The Sheriff’s Office announced on Jan. 4 that, following a community member’s reports of a suspicious person, deputies had arrested Bennett that morning on the 16000 block of Highway 116 in Guerneville, just half a mile away from the bank he’s alleged to have robbed five days earlier.
Bennett had reportedly been sighted near a car with a slashed tire, and video surveillance viewed by the deputies showed him pulling out a knife and walking towards the car.
He has been booked on charges of vandalism and bank robbery.
