Alleged bank robbing couple caught on video in Napa

NAPA, Calif. (Debora Villalon/KTVU) - In the North Bay, the dramatic arrest of an alleged bank-robbing couple was caught on video, just  minutes after they left the bank.

The duo was apprehended Saturday afternoon in Sonoma, but investigators believe they are linked to crimes in Napa and Benicia, and possibly other communities as well.

"I was like, I have to get this on video, there's no way around it," exclaimed a cell phone store employee who recorded the capture and shared it with KTVU.

It shows a swarm of law enforcement vehicles surrounding a pickup truck on West 5th Avenue. 

"Get on the ground, on your knees, head down," an officer can be heard shouting, as a man exits the vehicle at gunpoint.

"The guy in the driver's seat looked super scared, and put his hands up right away, honestly acted like he's been through this before," said the clerk, who wished to remain unidentified.
Napa Police had been actively searching for the suspect, now identified as 45 year old Manuel Maravilla, and his companion 34 year old Catrina Hockney, after one armed robbery and several attempted robberies at neighborhood markets and a fast food outlet, dating back to mid-August. 

"They were not very good at this," commented Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum, noting that local agencies were alerted to a suspicious tan Chevy truck that had been spotted, on one occasion with a makeshift face mask covering the license plate. 

"Napa called us, and the Sonoma Police Department, letting us know these two might be headed over to Sonoma," explained Sgt. Crum.
"We had flyers from them, and pictures of them, and pictures of the truck, so we knew what to look for."  

Police say on Saturday, they tailed the couple in Sonoma and watched them case some banks and businesses before Hockney allegedly entered a Wells Fargo branch and demanded large bills from the teller.

Because they were under surveillance, they were arrested only two blocks away.
Guests at an afternoon church wedding came out to watch, and shoppers at a nearby pharmacy had a close view too.  

Hockney was pulled from the truck half-dressed, in jeans and a bra.

She was on the floor behind the seat, changing her clothes.  

"Well I think they were both in shock, because they got caught so quickly," observed witness Stacey Knego, who works at the drugstore.

When Hockney was being hand-cuffed, the phone store clerk was mystified by something in her mouth, creating a visible bulge in her cheek.

Sgt. Crum says it was the hold-up note she had used at the bank.

"It's not really decipherable right now, because she put it in her mouth and was chewing on it," he described, "so the deputies weren't able to put it back together and see exactly what it said." 

For the clerk, it was an unusual ending to a notable afternoon.

"Wow, chewing it up, that's pretty cool," he said, "I guess it makes sense, destroying the evidence."

Cash from the bank was recovered.

Both Maravilla and Hockney are jail, on $500,000 bond.

And a third person, Hockney's mother Shontaine Brayton, 53, was also arrested as an accessory for harboring the semi-automatic handgun the couple used previously.

Napa Police say the the two have a criminal history, but until now, it did not include robbery.
Investigators are looking into the possibllity the couple is linked to other robberies in the area as well.