Robbery Suspect’S Friend Charged Texas Man Arrested At Outset Of Standoff At Hotel

A 19-year-old Texas man who was arrested in his underwear was charged Monday with harboring a man the FBI calls the “Cell Phone Bandit.”

Esteban Gonzalez, who has used various aliases, was arrested Sunday at the outset of a nine-hour police standoff with a bank robbery suspect at a downtown Spokane hotel.

His friend, James Joseph Lizotte, is suspected of robbing more than 30 banks in California in the past year, then hiding out in luxurious leased living quarters in Seattle, court documents say.

Lizotte, 36, was captured without incident Sunday after a police SWAT team stormed his 15th floor room in the DoubleTree Hotel.

He was arrested on a state assault charge accusing him of pointing a handgun at a hotel security officer and for domestic violence for allegedly beating Gonzalez in the hotel room.

The beating occurred after Gonzalez threatened to tell police he knew the whereabouts of the bank robbery suspect, court documents say.

Gonzalez has spent most of the summer with the suspected bank robber, traveling from California to Phoenix to Seattle and Spokane, the documents say.

Gonzalez “has been in a significant dating relationship” with Lizotte for over a year, Detective Scott Anderson said in a court affidavit.

About a month ago, Gonzalez heard a news report that Lizotte was wanted for bank robbery by the FBI, the documents say.

Lizotte has given Gonzalez $8,000 to $9,000 in cash in the past year and the two lived together in Redondo Beach, Calif., for a time, the documents say.

Gonzalez flew from San Diego to Spokane on Thursday and was picked up by Lizotte at the airport, court documents say.

It’s not clear if Spokane County prosecutors will proceed with formally charging Lizotte with the assaults, or turn him over to federal authorities so he can be prosecuted for the bank robberies.

Ultimately, Lizotte faces extradition to California, where he is charged in U.S. District Court in Sacramento with the June 2 robbery of a Washington Mutual Bank in Elk Grove, Calif.

“Lizotte also is a suspect in nearly three dozen (other) bank robberies in California since September 1999, all of which are attributed to the `Cell Phone Bandit,”’ the documents say.

He was given that criminal nickname because the robberies were carried out by a man who stood in line in banks, usually talking on a cell phone, before committing a robbery.

The FBI missed arresting the fugitive by one day when agents went to the University Plaza Hotel in Seattle on Aug. 31.

He is believed to have driven to Spokane sometime after leaving Seattle.

Gonzalez, using the name Steven Hernandez, rented a $129-a-night room at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Spokane on Friday, court documents say.

Hotel security guards and police were called to the room early Sunday after Gonzalez and a man later identified as Lizotte got in a fight.

Gonzalez, who fled into the hallway in his underwear, was detained for questioning and later arrested by FBI agents.

He was assaulted and almost choked into unconsciousness after telling Lizotte he intended to contact police and the FBI, court documents say.

Staff writer Mike Roarke contributed to this report.