Seven CU Branches Robbed in 9 Weeks; Scientist Arrested
Karl Doron, a data scientist and brain researcher, pleads not guilty to felony charges.
Even the smartest bank robbers are caught, eventually.
Karl Doron, who allegedly planned and carried out the robbery of seven California credit union branches within nine weeks, has a background that is not typical of your average bank robber who usually comes with a criminal rap sheet.
It turns out the accused 43-year-old robber from San Diego received a PhD in psychological and brain sciences from the University of California in Santa Barbara, conducted real-time brain-machine interface experiments funded by the National Institutes of Health and served as an infantry squad leader in the U.S. Marine Corp.
On his LinkedIn page, Doron’s current title is a data scientist with more than 10 years of experience working with large, complex datasets in fast-paced, federally funded academic research environments. He’s also listed on Google’s scholar site with nearly 20 academic research papers to his credit, including one that offered perspectives on examining the architecture and function of the human brain that was published by the MIT Press in 2008.
However, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, Doran has been unemployed.
After Doron allegedly robbed six credit union branches from the end of December through late February, a federal and police investigation focused on him as a suspect and was placed under surveillance.
According to reports, when he walked out of the Navy Federal Credit Union branch on Mira Mesa Boulevard in San Diego with a bagful of stolen cash on March 5, Doron was immediately apprehended and arrested.
According to reports, he allegedly committed his first robbery in the late afternoon of December 28 at the $3.5 billion Mission Federal Credit Union’s Clairemont Mesa Boulevard branch in San Diego. A month later on Jan. 25, he hit the $2.5 billion California Coast Credit Union’s Genesee Avenue branch in San Diego.
Then, after he allegedly robbed the the $8.1 billion San Diego County Credit Union’s Bernardo Plaza Drive branch in San Diego, the FBI issued a media release asking the public to help investigators identify the suspect.
While Doron wore a black sweatshirt, dark pants glasses/sunglasses and a hat, the FBI thought it was most significant that he was also wore gray gloves and carried a motorcycle helmet during the Jan. 25 and Feb. 7 robberies.
On Feb. 9, two days after the FBI’s call for public assistance, Doron cased Mission FCU’s Spring Canyon Road branch at 10:30 a.m., but decided to rob the credit union’s Clairmont Mesa Boulevard branch in San Diego instead at 11:02 a.m., according to the FBI.
On Feb. 15, the FBI reported Doron allegedly cased the Eastlake Parkway branch in Chula Vista of California Coast CU at 3:53 a.m., but on the next day, Feb. 16, he robbed the Mission FCU’s Spring Canyon Road branch in San Diego.
Investigators later reported something bizarre, that Doron carried a calculator in his hand and held it to his ear like a cell phone during the Feb. 9 and Feb. 16 robberies,
On Feb. 23, Doron robbed the Eastlake Parkway branch of California Coast CU in Chula Vista, which he initially cased on Feb 15.
After that robbery on Feb. 25, the FBI, along with the San Diego Violent Crimes Task Force and the Chula Vista Police Department, issued another release seeking the public’s assistance.
According to reports, in every robbery, Doron approached a teller station and handed the credit union employee a note demanding money.
By this time, however, investigative work identified Doran as a suspect that allowed police to follow and arrest him after the Navy FCU branch robbery last week. Although he was arrested without incident, investigators found Doron was carrying a loaded gun.
On March 8, he appeared in San Diego County Superior Court where he was charged with seven counts of bank robbery, two counts of attempted bank robbery and one count of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place.
He pleaded not guilty to the felonies, according to the San Diego County DA’s Office.
Doron’s bail was set at $1 million. He remains in custody at the San Diego County jail.
The San Diego County DA’s office said if Doron is convicted on all charges, he could face up to 14 years in state prison.
Additional court hearings for Doron are scheduled for March 27 and April 10.