By Lauren McSherry

An armed robber apparently forgot the first part of the catchphrase “Take the money and run” when he held up a Los Altos bank Dec. 16.

The robber allegedly entered the Bank of America branch on San Antonio Road minutes before closing time Friday evening, brandishing a semiautomatic handgun, said Los Altos Detective Scott Sweezey.

He approached a teller, instructed him not to push the alarm and told him to retrieve money stored in the bank’s vault.

When the teller handed him a bag containing $65,000 in $50 and $100 bills, the robber ordered him to collect smaller-denomination bills from another area in the bank.

The suspect then directed the bank’s two customers and three employees to climb into the open bank vault.

But according to witnesses, something startled the robber, who suddenly fled the scene - without his money, which he dropped at the bank’s front entrance. The suspect allegedly fled in the direction of Hawthorne Avenue on San Antonio Road.

“The take was nothing,” Sweezey said. Police were not called until after the man had fled and the bank alarm had not been triggered.

Sweezey described the suspect as a 6-foot-tall black man of unknown age, weighing approximately 190 pounds. The man was wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket, dark pants, black gloves and a full-faced motorcycle helmet.

Sweezey said the man’s ethnicity is somewhat questionable since he was almost completely disguised. “The information is sketchy at best,” Sweezey said.

A witness said she saw the back of the man’s neck below the helmet and that his skin was black. At the time of the Town Crier’s press deadline, police were looking to obtain more information about the suspect’s identity from bank video of the robbery.

Police believe the robber may have been scoping out the bank beforehand so that the timing of the holdup would coincide with the bank’s closing, Sweezey said. The robbery took place around 5:45 p.m.

The last Los Altos bank robbery occurred July 7. Police said a man who hid his identity beneath a straw hat allegedly robbed the Bank of America branch on Fremont Avenue.

Unlike the recent holdup, the robbery occurred during peak business hours. The robber, who appeared unarmed, escaped with approximately $9,000. The suspect has not been apprehended.