Amputees arrested in bank heists
Two men with artificial legs are responsible for four bank robberies in two weeks, officials believe.
“What are the chances of that?” Spokane police Sgt. Joe Peterson marveled after a second amputee was arrested Monday in Spokane Valley.
Peterson said detectives wondered whether the suspects had been in contact with one another but found nothing to explain the similar methods of operation. Aside from being fellow amputees, both suspects allegedly targeted banks in grocery stores, weren’t armed, and wrote notes on deposit slips.
Spokane Valley police say an officer arrested Joseph “OK Joe” Allen Brown Jr., 42, as he walked away from a 10:25 a.m. robbery at the Farmers & Merchants bank at 509 N. Sullivan Road – on two artificial legs.
Brown is suspected in two other bank robberies, including one in which Spokane police were giving Charles David West, 43, a hard look.
West – who has one artificial leg – was arrested in connection with the Nov. 27 robbery of the Farmers & Merchants bank in the Safeway store at 933 E. Mission Ave. That robbery was similar to one on Nov. 22 at the Wells Fargo bank branch in the Safeway store at 1616 W. Northwest Blvd.
But a woman who spent two days in a motel room with the Wells Fargo robber said he had two artificial legs, not one.
Leauna M. Launer told police the man she was with called himself Jay Brown or, sometimes, Joe Brown.
Launer said she went to the Northwest Boulevard Safeway store with “Jay Brown” so he could withdraw money from his Wells Fargo account after they ran out of money to buy drugs. She said he left her behind after robbing the bank, according to court documents.
Peterson said Joe Allen Brown Jr. refused to talk to Spokane police about his suspected involvement in the Northwest Boulevard holdup.
Even without Brown’s cooperation, “we’ve got a very strong case already,” Peterson said. “We’ve got a witness who spent quite a bit of time with him. We’ve also got some physical evidence that, now that we know who this guy is, we can tie to him.”
Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan said Brown also is suspected in a second Spokane Valley robbery, at the Wells Fargo branch in the Safeway store at 14020 E. Sprague Ave. on Nov. 20. Reagan said security videos of both Spokane Valley holdups were being compared Monday.
Cameras got a good view of the robber’s face in both cases, Reagan said.
He said a bank employee asked Brown to remove his sunglasses Monday when he entered the Sullivan Road bank and requested a deposit slip. Brown objected at first, but removed his glasses after writing a holdup note and handing it to the employee, Reagan said.
The note and stolen money were found on Brown when Officer Brian Hert arrested him minutes after the robbery, according to Reagan. He said Brown was walking south from the bank and was behind the Wendy’s restaurant at 225 N. Sullivan Road when Hert found him.
A police dog found Brown’s discarded jacket nearby, Reagan said.
In all four recent bank robberies, including the one in which West and another man are charged, the robber displayed a note but no weapon. Spokane police say West’s co-defendant, 24-year-old Joshua Sigvard Palmisano, waited in the getaway car while West robbed the bank in the Mission Avenue Safeway.
West remained in jail Monday night in lieu of $100,000 bail on his pending first-degree robbery charge. A U.S. Marshals Service hold would prevent his release even if he could post the robbery bail.
Brown also was being held Monday night on a no-bail warrant as well as suspicion of first-degree robbery. Jail officials said the warrant charges Brown with probation violation in Snohomish County.
Court records indicate Brown has no Spokane County felony history, but he was sentenced in Renton (Wash.) Municipal Court in August to two months in jail for third-degree theft at a Wal-Mart store.
West’s Spokane County criminal history includes convictions in 1995 for third-degree possession of stolen property and in 1997 for being a felon in possession of a firearm.