VENTURA : Bulletproof Glass Foils Bank Robber

A 43-year-old drifter attempted to rob a Wells Fargo bank in Ventura on Thursday morning, but he was stymied by bulletproof glass and arrested by police as he exited the bank.

Carl Rodderick Johnson was taken into custody by Ventura Police Officer Ross Nideffer about 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo branch on South Chestnut Street. Witnesses told police they saw Johnson loitering in the area and fishing a cardboard box from a trash can before the bank opened.

He later entered the bank, approached a teller, placed the cardboard box on the counter and said: “This is a robbery, give me all your money,” police said.

The teller, protected by bulletproof glass, then tripped the silent alarm and sat down on the floor out of view. The bank manager called police and gave dispatchers a description of the suspect.

Nideffer arrested Johnson at gunpoint without incident just as other officers were arriving as back up.

FBI Special Agent Larry Dick said Johnson later told him he wanted to get caught. “He was fed up with living on the street and having an alcohol problem and a drug problem, and he felt getting arrested possibly would help him get his life back together,” he said.

Johnson described himself as a self-taught artist and musician.