SAN DIEGO -- A former San Diego police officer who wore a red Santa Claus hat and white beard when he robbed a Mission Valley bank branch was in custody Friday but the loot from the heist was unaccounted for, police said.

Rudolph Basha, 36, retired from the San Diego Police Department in 1996, according to 10News.

The incident began around 5:30 p.m. yesterday when Basha "used verbal threats to demand money" from a clerk at a Union Bank branch inside the Ralph's supermarket at 5680 Mission Center Rd., San Diego police Lt. Rey Armstrong said.

The thief did not display a weapon during the crime, according to Armstrong.

The clerk complied with the demand and placed an undisclosed amount of cash into a bank bag and handed it over to the thief. Basha fled on foot with a store security guard in pursuit, Armstrong said.

The guard told police he chased the thief, who ditched the beard and Santa hat as he ran, to an area near Highway 163 and Friars Road before losing sight of him.

Officers, with assistance from a police helicopter, conducted a search of the area and spotted a man matching the robber's description walking out of some bushes, Armstrong said.

Basha was taken into custody, and "witnesses were able to identify him as the bank robber," Armstrong said.

Police have not yet located the missing loot, according to Armstrong.