In brief: Receipt leads police to alleged robber

BEND, Ore. – A robber at the Home Federal Bank in Bend two weeks ago demanded money by giving the teller a note written on the back of a grocery receipt, police records said.

It was only part of the receipt, Bend Detective Jeff Frickey said in the documents, but it had the last four digits of a food stamp account and the account balance, enough to get investigators going.

State records provided a name to go with the account number, reported the Bulletin, of Bend, and an online search of the name turned up a pawn shop transaction with a telephone number.

A service provider then came up with the coordinates of the phone, the Stillwater Campground in Central Oregon.

That is where 54-year-old Robert Short was arrested on theft and robbery charges, documents said.

At an interview afterward, documents said, Short denied the charges, saying he never keeps receipts and would have thrown it in the trash, where anyone could have picked it up.

He also said that a hitchhiker must have stolen a black stocking cap that police kept as evidence after it was knocked off when the robber and a bank client struggled during the April 24 holdup, documents said.

Police told Short his DNA was on the cap.

Coroner hopes shoe can help ID foot

SEATTLE – The King County medical examiner’s office hopes the shoe’s the clue that will help identify a human foot that washed ashore this week – inside an athletic sneaker – on the shore of a Seattle park.

The medical examiner’s office described the shoe Wednesday as a New Balance sneaker, men’s size 10 1/2, that is white with blue trim. The particular model was first available for sale in April 2008.

There was also a black cotton Hanes brand sock on the foot.

The medical examiner said it doesn’t know the sex, age, ancestry or height of the person involved.

The foot was found Tuesday at a park near Seattle’s Pier 68.