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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Brothers Get Full Reward From Banks Third Bank Offers $10,000 For Capture Of Robbery Suspect

Associated Press

They had their Thanksgiving dinner ruined by a shootout and tear gas in the back yard. Their Christmas promises to be brighter.

Two brothers who called police after finding an accused bank robber hiding in a camper in the back yard of their mother’s house became $60,000 richer Tuesday, thanks mainly to a change in heart by two banks.

The chairman of Seafirst Bank on Tuesday presented Bob and Ron Walker with the full $50,000 reward Seafirst and Wells Fargo Bank had posted two months ago for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for a string of holdups in the Seattle area.

The prime suspect in the holdups was a man investigators dubbed “Hollywood” because of his use of disguises and theatrical makeup. He was later identified as William Scott Scurlock, who last lived in the Olympia area.

Scurlock was charged in last Wednesday’s robbery of a north Seattle Seafirst Bank branch. After eluding police for 24 hours, Scurlock killed himself in the camper during a Thanksgiving day shootout with police.

On Monday, Seafirst had indicated the Walkers wouldn’t get any reward money because when they called 911, they hadn’t identified the man in their mother’s back yard as the robber. Then the bank said it would give the Walkers $10,000.

Faced with a public-relations fallout, Seafirst and Wells Fargo - two California-based banks - on Tuesday decided to give the Walkers the full $50,000.

“After reviewing the facts, it is clear to me that Bob and Ron played an integral role in leading police to Scurlock,” Seafirst Chairman John Rindlaub said. Later Tuesday, Seattle-based Pemco Financial Center gave the brothers another $10,000, saying it was disappointed the California-based banks hadn’t come up with the $50,000 earlier.

“We were disappointed and disillusioned that members of the finance community would waver and not walk their talk when somebody put their lives at stake,” said Stan McNaughton, Pemco president and chief executive officer.

The Walker brothers said one of the first things they plan to do with the reward money is buy some siding and a new roof for their mother’s house.

Meanwhile, two of Scurlock’s alleged accomplices, Steve Meyers, 46, of New Orleans, and Mark Biggins, 42, from the Oxnard, Calif., area, appeared before a federal magistrate Tuesday on federal armed bank robbery charges. They remained in detention on $1 million bail, and their next federal court appearance was set for Monday.

Meyers and Biggins could be seen laughing in the back of a patrol car as they left federal court.