He asked to open a bank account, then handed over a robbery note instead of his ID, charges say
A man who allegedly robbed a bank in Milton earlier this year after he asked to open an account has been charged following tips to police.
Prosecutors charged the 22-year-old with first-degree robbery Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court.
He has not yet been booked into the Pierce County Jail.
Charging papers make these allegations about what happened:
He went to the Key Bank in Milton just before 12:30 p.m. April 17 on Meridian East, wearing a medical mask and gloves, shorts, a sweatshirt, a backwards baseball hat, and sporting a backpack, ear bud and sunglasses.
When he asked about opening an account an employee brought him to her cubicle. When she asked for his ID, he handed her a note.
“I have a gun, nobody has to get hurt,” it said. “This is a robbery.”
The message, written on lined paper, said to empty drawers of 100s, 50s, 20s and 10s.
It also said not to activate any alarms and that he’d check for any dye packs.
The woman hit a panic button that the man couldn’t see, then walked him to a teller and gave the teller the note.
The teller handed over an envelope with the cash, as well as “bait money” with a tracker.
Then the man drove off in a vehicle with tinted windows that didn’t have license plates.
Police followed the tracker and found it in the street near Milton Way and Meridian.
They put out a photo of the suspect online and got multiple tips that helped identify him.
Tipsters noted a tattoo on the defendant’s neck, his carefully groomed facial hair and that the car he drove belonged to his baby’s mother.
Police also noticed the getaway vehicle had one mismatched wheel, which fit the description of a vehicle police found outside the home of the suspect’s child’s mother in Maple Valley — though that vehicle did have license plates.
“A tipster also indicated that he or she did not believe the defendant to be cooperative with police and may try to shoot it out with police or commit suicide by cop,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
