Santee bank robbery suspect arrested

January 2026 Articles

East County News Service

January 16, 2026 (Santee) – Bruce Clark Furze, 31, was arrested last night while trying to cross the international border pedestrian port of entry at San Ysidro. He is being charged with robbing the Chase Bank on Town Center Parkway in Santee on Monday, January 12, according to Sergeant Justin Crews with the San Diego County Sheriff’s criminal intelligence unit.

Shortly after 9 a.m. on January 12, a man handed a teller a note demanding money. He was described as a White man, approximately 20 to 30 years old, wearing a black zip-up sweatshirt, black pants, black baseball cap, black sunglasses and carrying a black backpack.

The FBI Violent Crimes Task Force responded to assist the San Diego County Sheriff's Office with the investigation.

Video surveillance was obtained and deputies from the Santee Sheriff's Station identified the suspect from prior contacts.

He was subsequently booked into the San Diego Central Jail for robbery.

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.