Letter to Tacoma police warned of man’s desire to rob bank

He started with a letter to Tacoma police dated Feb. 3.

“I’m going to rob several banks and you can’t stop me,” the letter writer stated. “I dare you to put me in prison if you can! I want to go to prison anyway, arrest me if you can! This world sucks.”

Two days later, the 41-year-old man who’d written the letter called 911 and told dispatchers he wanted to rob a bank so he could go to jail.

An officer went to the man’s home and spoke with him. The man admitted he’d stopping taking his medication for mental illness and agreed to visit a hospital for an evaluation.

On Monday, the man walked into a Chase Bank branch at South 11th Street and Pacific Avenue and handed a teller a note demanding $10,000, according to court records.

He was still standing there when police arrived to arrest him. The man was not armed and said he only wanted to rob a bank.

Pierce County prosecutors charged the man with attempted first-degree robbery and set a competency hearing for Feb. 17.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 5:56 AM with the headline "Letter to Tacoma police warned of man’s desire to rob bank."