An 18-year-old Minnesotan on the Cal Poly men’s basketball roster is being held without bail in connection with an armed robbery of a bank in Wisconsin. Anthony Di Loreto, hailed as a “top” recruit by Cal Poly when he signed with the school last November, was arrested Saturday in his hometown of Minnetonka, Minn.
Authorities in Danbury, Wis., alleged that Di Loreto was the driver of a getaway car in the robbery of Bremer Bank in the town, according to FOX 9 News in Minneapolis and the Burnett County Sentinel in Grantsburg, Wis.
Police told the Sentinel that Di Loreto and a 16-year-old male, whose name has not been released, drove to Danbury early Saturday morning.
“They came from the Twin Cities where they had planned the robbery,” Detective Tracy Finch told the Sentinel.
Di Loreto stayed with the getaway car while the 16-year-old robbed the bank with a sawed-off shotgun, the Sentinel reported.
The robbery failed when Di Loreto fled the town after seeing a police car, the Sentinel reported.
“On (Di Loreto’s) way back to the bank (after he had pumped gas nearby without paying), he saw a squad car with its lights going headed toward the bank, got scared and drove back to the Twin Cities,” Finch told the Sentinel.
The 16-year-old was arrested after he fled on foot from the scene when he could not find the getaway car, the Sentinel reported. He reportedly told police about his accomplice and the getaway vehicle when he was picked up. Police in Minnetonka arrested Di Loreto later Saturday.
Di Loreto, a 7-foot, 215-pound center from Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, is being held without bail at Hennepin County Jail, a jail official said.
The Minnetonka Police Department was unavailable for comment Monday afternoon.
Di Loreto, whose signing with Cal Poly was announced Nov. 14, 2007, is waiting to be extradited for a hearing in Wisconsin, the jail official said Monday.
Di Loreto averaged 8.2 points per game as a prep senior.
Upon his signing, Cal Poly men’s basketball head coach Kevin Bromley called him “a seven-footer with a great deal of potential” who would “have a big impact playing in the Big West Conference.”
The university’s athletic department would not comment Monday afternoon on the arrest or the status of Di Loreto, who is listed as a business major.
Editor’s note: This story was posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 at 6:43 p.m. PST