Paso Robles teller sues bank over her manager’s actions during a 2019 armed robbery
A 2019 bank robbery in Paso Robles has resulted in a lawsuit from an employee who claims she suffered emotional distress because a manager allegedly failed to comply with the robbers’ demands.
The Nov. 15, 2019, robbery occurred at Pacific Premier Bank on 12th Street in Paso Robles, where Stephanie Ochoa was working as a customer service representative when two armed, masked robbers entered the building.
During the robbery, Ochoa was held hostage at gunpoint, according to the lawsuit filed by the Redondo Beach law firm Kirtland & Packard LLP on Ochoa’s behalf.
Ochoa claims that her manager, Kristen Kearns, refused the two robbers’ demands for the bank to produce more cash and give them access to the vault.
According to the lawsuit, Ochoa was “physically accosted” by the robbers at her teller’s window, while “all other employees present were hiding.”
“This action by Kristen Kearns violated the bank’s own policies and procedures regarding the handling of bank robberies,” the lawsuit alleges. “... They then demanded more money from the tellers and access to the vault, under threat of killing Stephanie Ochoa in the event Pacific Premier Bank did not comply.”
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 10, represents only one side of the case, and Pacific Premier Bank, headquartered in Irvine, didn’t respond to Tribune requests for comment.
Lawsuit also names a Paso Robles bank robber
Besides the bank, Ochoa also names one of the robbers, Michael Isodor Wallravin, as a defendant in the case; the other robber, whose identity is currently unknown, also is listed as a defendant.
According to a Nov. 15, 2019, Tribune article, employees told police that two men entered the bank holding handguns and wearing masks, hooded sweatshirts and jackets to conceal their identities. The men demanded money and then fled.
Wallravin was convicted and sentenced in October to 25 years to life in state prison for his role in the crime.
Ochoa’s complaint for damages in the civil case includes negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress, premises liability, false imprisonment and assault.
“This duty arises in part from Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc.’s own internal policies and procedures, which require that, in the event two armed individuals enter the Paso Robles, CA, location of (the bank) and attempt to rob the bank, to accede to their demands, and not to refuse when the two robbers ask for more money from the tellers or for access to the vault in the bank,” the lawsuit states.
Ochoa was severely traumatized and has developed post-traumatic stress disorder, incurring emotional and psychological injury, while taking leave from her duties the same day the incident occurred, her lawyers wrote.
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