A man convicted of killing a taxi cab driver near Joint Base Lewis-McChord as a teenager now is charged with robbing a bank in Tacoma and shooting an acquaintance in separate cases last month.
He also is a suspect in a second bank robbery, this one in Lakewood, Pierce County prosecutors said.
Marciano Ellis, 30, is back in prison for violating his probation for the 1999 fatal shooting of Donald Ray Barker.
Prosecutors have charged him with first-degree robbery in a Sept. 26 holdup of a Key Bank branch in Tacoma. He has not yet been arraigned in that case.
Ellis allegedly entered the bank holding a wallet filled with fake money – presumably to look as if he had legitimate business in the bank – and handed the teller a note demanding cash. He fled with the fake money and real cash from the bank after demanding the note back.
Police identified the robber through a fingerprint left on the bank’s door. Ellis was found the next day at a motel in the city. His girlfriend allegedly told officers he left their room during the time of the bank robbery, and surveillance footage backed her account.
Fake money, blank checks, and equipment used to copy and scan money were found in Ellis’ motel room.
In the second case, Ellis is charged with first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. According to charging documents:
He was at the home of an acquaintance Sept. 11, when the two began arguing about Ellis using the man’s identity to buy a car. As the acquaintance had his back turned, Ellis shot him in the lower back with a handgun, the victim’s girlfriend told authorities.
Ellis then asked the man for gas money and left.
It was unclear when Ellis would be transferred to the Pierce County Jail to face the recent charges.
Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said Ellis is also a suspect in the Lakewood bank robbery, which happened about nine days before the Tacoma holdup. Details of that robbery were unavailable Monday.
Ellis was sentenced to 132 months in prison for killing Barker, 45, on March 5, 1999, on a road near then-Fort Lewis. Ellis was released to community custody in November 2008.
He used a pay phone to call for a cab, Ellis told FBI agents, who investigated the case because it took place on federal property. Within 20 minutes of the call, Barker’s body was found with three gunshot wounds to the back of his head.
Ellis told a friend he took $2,300 from the taxi driver to buy drugs.
When agents searched Ellis’ home, they found a receipt for the gun used in Barker’s death. Records say Ellis had his girlfriend buy the weapon for him because he was too young.
Stacia Glenn: 253-597-8653
stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com
Staff writer Alexis Krell contributed to this report.
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