Bank robbery tipster accused

The tipster who told police about a bank robbery before it happened Monday has been hoisted by his own petard – busted as an alleged participant with information he provided.

Joshua Sigvard Palmisano, 24, was an “active participant” in Monday’s robbery of the Farmers & Merchants bank in the Safeway store at 933 E. Mission Ave., police Detective Chet Gilmore said in court documents filed Wednesday to hold Palmisano on suspicion of first-degree robbery.

Palmisano was booked into jail Monday night on an unrelated bench warrant when he was caught riding in the alleged bank robber’s car. Gilmore said Palmisano eventually admitted he knew Charles David West, 43, was robbing the bank when he told Palmisano to wait in the car while he made a “withdrawal.”

Police said Palmisano acknowledged it was he who had called Secret Witness to say he met “Chuck” – a former co-worker he hadn’t seen for two years – early Monday afternoon and learned Chuck “had been robbing banks lately.” Chuck planned another one that evening, according to Palmisano’s tip.

Palmisano reportedly said West showed him a holdup note on the back of a bank deposit slip and said he had been in prison for bank robbery.

Court documents indicate Palmisano felt he wasn’t taken seriously when he called Secret Witness. But the information, including a description of West’s Ford Taurus, was disseminated to officers. Sgt. Joseph Walker was on the lookout for the Taurus when he stopped West and Palmisano.

The affidavit Gilmore filed Wednesday said West confessed to Monday’s bank robbery, in which a teller gave him five marked $20 bills. Gilmore said West had three of the bills when he was searched.

A robbery note similar to the one Palmisano described before Monday’s robbery was found in the Taurus.

Palmisano claimed at the time of his arrest that he refused when West offered him a couple of the $20 bills, but Gilmore stated Wednesday that the bills apparently were part of the $44 Palmisano had when he was booked into jail. Palmisano’s cash was mixed with other prisoners’ money and banked before it could be seized as evidence.

Eventually, Gilmore stated, Palmisano told officers West had promised him $500 to come along on the robbery and that West gave him a share of the loot.

Gilmore’s affidavit said West remained under investigation in two similar robberies last week at banks in Safeway stores. An associate of a man who committed one of last week’s holdups said the robber was a double amputee who hid money in an artificial leg.

Gilmore noted in another court document that West has an artificial leg and that his facial features “appear similar” to those recorded in surveillance videos of last week’s robberies.