Novato Police Arrest Suspected Serial Bank Robber After Botched Heist of U.S. Bank

The American Canyon man wanted in connection with a slew of Bay Area bank robberies over the past few months was arrested Thursday afternoon by Novato Police after he and an accomplice abandoned an attempted robbery of the U.S. Bank at the Safeway in Hamilton, according to police.

Joshua Metoxen, 23, was arrested at around 2 p.m. Thursday and booked into Marin County Jail at 8:30 p.m. He remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail. His alleged accomplice, 20-year-old Napa resident Jack Dennis, was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery and burglary and remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.

At 1:43 p.m. Thursday, Novato Police responded to a report of a robbery at U.S. Bank in the Safeway at 5720 Nave Drive after an employee reported that he recognized the alleged robber as having been involved in a previous robbery at the bank, according to Sgt. Michael Howard.

The employee moved to a secure location in the bank and called police, and Metoxen then fled on foot, Howard said. A Novato detective on his way to the scene spotted a vehicle leaving the area that was believed to be involved in the incident. Police pulled over the car on the nothbound Hwy. 101 on-ramp ay Rowland Blvd., Howard said. Metoxen and Dennis were then taken into custody, with Metoxen facing an additional outstanding $750,000 warrant on robbery charges in Lake County.

Howard said Metoxen was identified as the suspect responsible for the Feb. 19 robbery of the same U.S. Bank.

No one was injured in the incident.

Howard said Novato Police are working with a variety of law enforcemnt agencies, including the FBI and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, to determine the involvement of both suspects in previously reported robberies throughout Northern California.

Earlier this year, there was a slew of bank robberies at Westamerica branches in Marin. 

On March 13, the Westamerica Bank in Strawberry Village in Mill Valley was robbed. The Marin County Sheriff’s Office said a man wearing a 49ers hat and sunglasses walked into the bank, slipped a note to a teller demanding money and walked out; no weapon was seen. The Sheriff's Office released a security footage photo of the suspect, saying he appeared to be the same man who robbed banks in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, and Novato.

On Jan. 4, a,  and fled on foot after receiving cash. No weapon was seen or mentioned in that incident.

Less than a week later on Jan. 10, the Westamerica branch in Novato's Ignacio area was robbed of an undisclosed amount of money and the suspect fled on foot. No one was hurt and no weapon was used.

And on Jan. 25, a man walked in to the Westamerica Bank at 1 Mitchell Blvd. in North San Rafael, demanded money from the bank teller and then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

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