Nanaimo RCMP have a 34-year-old man in custody after botched attempts to rob a bank and steal money from an elderly man.
The incidents happened Tuesday about 2:20 p.m. at the Coast Capital Savings on Aulds Road.
Police initially responded to a report of a shoplifting incident at a Sport Chek, where a man was seen running from the store with clothing, then trying to remove security tags with a rock.
From there, the man allegedly went to Coast Capital Savings to rob it before backing out and leaving empty-handed.
Police said that as he was leaving, he saw a man making a withdrawal from an ATM and tried to take the money from him. The man wouldn’t give it to him, so he ran off.
No weapon was produced in the two incidents, but threats were made, police said.
The man was arrested soon after.
William Joseph Lesieur has been charged with two counts of robbery and one of theft under $5,000.
