Missing $1 Million Stolen; Bank Says It Has a Suspect

First Interstate Bank, describing the disappearance earlier this month of nearly $1 million in deposits as a theft, said Thursday it knows the identity of a suspect and will turn the results of its investigation over to Los Angeles police.

John Popovich, a bank spokesman, said First Interstate officials believe that the suspect acted alone in taking bags with cash and checks deposited by about 1,500 customers of four of the bank’s branches in the San Fernando Valley. Popovich declined to name the suspect, saying only that he was not a bank employee.

He said the deposit bags have not been recovered but added that “we have no evidence that any check has been cashed anywhere.”

Deposits Missing

A four-member First Interstate security team began its investigation when deposits made March 3 at branches in Panorama City, North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Burbank could not be found at the bank’s central processing building in downtown Los Angeles. The deposits were picked up by a courier from the branches and were to be taken to Van Nuys Airport, where a helicopter service was to fly them downtown.

After the helicopter made its delivery, however, officials at the central processing office discovered that four deposit bags were missing. Popovich declined to identify the courier or helicopter service, saying he didn’t want to undermine the anticipated investigation by police.

Several Believed Involved

He added that “several people,” not just the suspect identified by the bank, “were involved in transferring the money.”

Until now, First Interstate had looked into the case by itself, saying it would not request help from law-enforcement agencies unless it found that a theft had occurred.

Popovich said the bank has used backup deposit records to credit all of the affected bank customers for the amount of their missing deposits. He said First Interstate is reimbursing customers who were charged for bounced checks, late payments or insufficient balances because their deposits were not credited promptly as a result of the loss of the deposits.

The bank has been in touch with all but “a very, very few” of the affected customers, Popovich said.