FBI, Oakland police swarm hills home of accused bank robber

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - Oakland police and the FBI arrested a 49-year-old man on suspicion of bank robbery early Tuesday, taking him into custody at a hospital where his wife just gave birth to their second child, sources and neighbors said.

Duane Makela was arrested by Orinda and Oakland police shortly before 7 a.m. at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center on Broadway in Oakland, where his wife was giving birth to their second child.

He is suspected of at least two bank robberies in Orinda last year. Authorities are investigating whether he could be linked to other holdups. He's being held in lieu of $150,000 bail at Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez on suspicion of robbery and drug possession.

KTVU was the first on scene at the man's home in the on the 2400 block Stockbridge Drive in the Piedmont Pines neighborhood. At about 6 a.m. Tuesday, FBI agents and Oakland police began converging on the home.

A suspicious device in an SUV on the property led investigators to call in the Alameda County sheriff's bomb squad. The object in question turned out to be a "hoax device" that was made to look real, investigators said.

FBI spokeswoman Katherine Zackel said agents were there serving a search warrant.

No homes were evacuated. "There is no threat to public safety," Zackel said.

Neighbor Gigi Reinheimer said the man moved in with his parents about a year ago, and has been living there with his wife and young daughter. He was known to yell at his family and did not seem overly friendly.

"He was a problem for all of us," Reinheimer said. "He sounded abusive."