Police Still Hunting for NE Bend Bank Robber

A knife-wielding man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and white bandana over his face robbed a U.S. Bank branch in northeast Bend and ran, eluding pursuing police and a K-9 tracking dog.

The holdup alarm was received at 9:47 a.m. by Deschutes County 911 dispatchers from the bank at 1442 NE Third St, said Sgt. Clint Burleigh

The man entered the bank and demanded money from a teller, leaving with an undisclosed amount of cash, Burleigh said.

The robber brandished what’s believed to be a knife during the holdup, though no employee ws hurt, the sergeant said.

Bend police, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents searched the area around the bank and into surrounding neighborhoods, but the robber escaped, Burleigh said.

In the first moments, nearby Marshall High School on Fifth Street was placed in “lockout,” meaning the students were kept inside but classes continued. Burleigh said that is what’s done when there’s a threat off-campus, as compared to a lockdown, which is called when the threat is on the campus.

Late Friday, police released a security-camera photo of the robber and issued this description: A white male adult, 20 to 30 years old, 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall. He was wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt (with the No. 13 clearly visible on the front), light pants, a black baseball cap, sunglasses and dark-colored shoes.

He was reported to also have a black backpack with green on it.

The initial report was of no weapons seen or shown, but that probably referred to no gun. A description soon was given of a knife that folded open, with a serrated blade and blue cover, some of which had worn off.

Police converged to establish a perimeter and hunt for the robber, bringing in a police dog to try to establish a track.

A NewsChannel 21 crew watched as the sheriff’s dog picked up the man’s scent at the bank, and started working the residential streets behind the building.

“He’s going to track the scent of either vegetation or just the scent the person’s putting off. which we like to refer to as ‘fear’ scent,” said sheriff’s Deputy Doug Jackson. “When someone does something bad, they put off a ‘fear’ scent.”

There was some hope, as K-9 Duco hit on bushes and patches of lawn, but as he got farther, they lost the track.

“We tracked him down to the intersection, where he stopped showing interest, which leads us to believe it’s possible they left in a vehicle or a bike,” Jackson said.

It was a familiar scene of late — the fourth bank holdup in Bend in just over six months and the second at that same branch.

A Boise man, David Glass, was arrested in late December in Missoula, Mont., in the Dec. 7 holdup of the U.S. Bank branch and another robbery of a Portland bank five days later.

The south Bend Bank of the Cascades on S. Hwy. 97 was robbed twice in three months, on Dec. 22 and April 9; that suspect has not been caught.

As with any unsolved crime, Bend police asked that anyone with information contact dispatchers at (541) 693-6911. You can also call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1-877-876-TIPS, or use the form on the KTVZ.COM Crime Stoppers page. You can remain anonymous, and you could be eligible for a cash reward.

Employees at nearby businesses we talked with say they didn’t know anything was going on until they saw police pull up.

But now with possibly three bank robbers slipping away, is it a concern it’s too easy?

Kathy DeGree of Black Bear Diner said, “”I know they have a lot on their hands right now, so it’s a difficult job for them, but I’m confident that the Bend Police will figure it out.”