The girlfriend of a man accused of a botched bank extortion has been arrested on a conspiracy to commit robbery charge. 

Cheryl A. Siekerman, 33, appeared in Spokane County Superior Court today via video from the jail, where she was booked Thursday.

She’s accused of helping Donnell L. Winston, who police say called Inland Northwest Bank, 518 W. Francis, on Oct. 14 and threatened to blow up five school if he didn’t receive $10,000.

Police say Winston asked for the money to be dropped off at 13th and Arthur - where his home is located. Police saw him talking on his cell phone on porch, then watched him retrieve a package dropped off by an undercover detective.

Winston, 37, was convicted of bank robbery in 2004 and was arrested the night of the incident on a probation violation and remains in jail. Police have recommended he be charged with attempted first-degree bank robbery, along with five bomb threat charges.

The request was clear: $10,000, or bombs would detonate at five Spokane elementary schools.

Police say that phone call to a north Spokane bank turned out to be nothing more than a poorly executed crime by a convicted bank robber who led detectives to his doorstep.

It’s like out of a bad movie,” said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, Spokane Police Department spokeswoman. “The sad thing is we do have to treat it as real, because the reality is this stuff happens.”

Now police are recommending six felony charges against Donnell L. Winston, 37, for the Oct. 14 phone call to Inland Northwest Bank, 518 W. Francis Ave.

Read my full story here.