Relatives Help In Hunt For Suspect

The uncle of a man suspected of robbing a downtown Spokane bank told federal authorities he believes his nephew may be picking mushrooms in Trout Lake, Wash., for extra cash.

Robert John Donovan, 25, is wanted on one count of bank robbery. FBI agents believe he robbed the Seafirst branch at 601 W. Riverside on Thursday afternoon. FBI offices are housed on the 13th floor of that building.

“He’s worked (in Trout Lake) before for extra money. I think he might have gone back there again,” said Donovan’s uncle, A.J. Donier.

Donier and his wife, Jenny, live in Malden, Wash., five miles west of Rosalia. The Doniers came to Spokane on Saturday to tell authorities what they know about the case.

“His frame of mind was such that he felt he had no other recourse,” Donier said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

“We all went to dinner the day before he robbed the bank. We were supposed to see him the next day but he never showed,” he said.

Donovan was collecting disability and was earning $470 a month, but $310 was taken out for child support for his 6-year-old son and the child’s mother, Jeannie Knight of Longview, Wash., Jenny Donier said.

Donovan suffers from arthritis. “He can work, he just doesn’t seem to want to,” she said.

Donovan has no Spokane address and has been without his own place for some time, the couple said.

“He seemed down when we saw him,” he said. “He was going to go back to school, but his financial application was denied.”

Donovan is 6 feet tall, 150 pounds with dangling brown hair and brown eyes.