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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Law enforcement officials around the region are searching for a Napa County man believed to be responsible for numerous bank robberies in Lake and other counties over the past two months.
On Friday the Lake County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect in two Middletown bank robberies as 23-year-old Joshua James Metoxen of Napa.
Metoxen, a 2007 graduate of Vintage High School where he was a football standout, is believed to have robbed the Middletown Westamerica Bank on Feb. 27 and the Tri Counties Bank on March 7, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
Brooks said a $750,000 arrest warrant has been issued for Metoxen.
According to Napa Valley Crime Stoppers, Metoxen was arrested last August for charges including a felony probation violation and possession of a controlled substance.
Lake County Sheriff’s officials had previously stated that they believed the Middletown suspect was responsible for several North Bay bank robberies.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a Lake County News inquiry on Friday regarding the connections between those robberies and the two that occurred in Middletown.
Lt. Jamie Scardina of the Marin County Sheriff’s Office told Lake County News on Friday that the agency believed a suspect who robbed a Mill Valley Westamerica Bank on Wednesday was similar in appearance to the Middletown suspect – who was not identified as Metoxen until later in the day.
The Mill Valley suspect – described as a white male adult in his late 20s, with a large build and facial hair under his bottom lip – walked up to a teller and handed over a note demanding money, according to the report.
The bank teller handed over an undisclosed amount of money and the suspect – who did not exhibit a weapon – fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, Marin officials reported.
The suspect was wearing sunglasses, a black sweatshirt, tan shorts and a red and black 49ers hat, was last seen getting into a mid 2000s tan Honda traveling southbound on Redwood Highway, officials said.
During the Lake County robberies, the suspect also appeared to have a similar modus operandi, handing over a note demanding money, with no weapon seen.
Scardina said the Mill Valley suspect also resembled the suspect who robbed a Chase Bank in Santa Rosa Feb. 1, two US Banks in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park on Feb. 14, and another US Bank in Novato Feb. 19.
In a statement issued Feb. 14 the Santa Rosa Police Department said its investigators also believed the Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park robberies were committed by the same individual, who used a note to demand cash but didn’t show a firearm.
Three of the banks – the US Banks in Rohnert Park and Novato, and the Chase Bank in Santa Rosa – also were located in grocery stores, officials reported.
U.S. Bank is offering up to a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any individuals responsible for committing any bank robberies at any U.S. Bank branch.
Lake County officials said a multiagency manhunt is under way for Metoxen, who is considered armed and extremely dangerous and should not be approached.
Anyone with information concerning his whereabouts is encouraged to call 911.
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