[UPDATED with 2 Freed:] Steven Rineberg's Taxicab Confession Leads to Bank Robbery Arrest


UPDATE, SEPT. 30, 2:24 P.M.: Man, Danny Bonaduce has really sunken to . . . er, check that. This is Steven Christopher Rineberg, the 53-year-old Mira Loma resident accused of robbing Saigon National Bank in Westminster, boasting about it to a cabbie who ratted him out and then getting arrested in a car near the same bank in the same afternoon yesterday. Corporal Van Woodson, the Westminster Police Department spokesman, said today that two people in the car with Rineberg, a female driver and male passenger, have been released and will not be charged with crimes.
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Money and narcotics were found in the vehicle, but it remains unclear
how much of the $2,000 Rineberg is accused of taking from the bank has
been recovered, Woodson said.


That's the full booking photo courtesy of Westminster Police above.


ORIGINAL POST, SEPT. 29, 4:18 P.M.: Here's a tip to you bank robbers out there: loose lips sink getaways. Steven Rineberg, 53, of Mira Loma, apparently found out the hard way after allegedly telling a taxicab driver he'd just robbed a bank. After watching Rineberg get out of the cab at First Street and Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana, get into a champagne-colored Chevrolet sedan and drive off early this afternoon, the cabbie called the cops. What Rineberg did next after his taxicab confession made it even easier to get himself arrested on felony bank robbery charges.

Dude drove back to the Saigon National Bank near Brookhurst Street and McFadden Avenue in Westminster that he is accused of knocking off, according to a statement from Westminster Police Cpl. Van Woodson.

The fun began just before 12:40 p.m., when a silent alarm sent Westminster officers, detectives and forensic staff to Saigon National Bank. Santa Ana Police received the call from the cabbie shortly after that. Someone at SAPD had to the good sense to give a heads up to WPD.

The Chevy Rineberg was driving was spotted heading back toward the bank, and a felony stop was made in the same business center that houses the bank. Two other adults in the Chevy were detained with Rineberg, but Woodson indicates it is unclear at this time whether they were involved in the bank job. All three were being held at the Westminster jail as this was being posted.

“Thanks to the vigilance
of the taxi driver and his willingness to notify the local police
about what he had seen, a dangerous felon has been arrested,” according to Woodson's statement.

He says detectives are sure they've got their man. Although no weapon was seen or recovered, the robber indicated to bank employees he he had one. The department is encouraging anyone with tips about the case to call the detective bureau, even anonymously, at 714.548.3207.

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