TACOMA — Michael J. Fenter, a Port Townsend man accused of robbing a Tacoma bank and under investigation in three other bank robberies, is expected to enter a plea in federal court Friday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Strombom will preside over the arraignment at Union Station Courthouse in Tacoma at 1:30 p.m.
Fenter, 40, is accused of taking $73,000 from a Bank of America branch in Tacoma on Oct. 8.
He was armed with a .40-caliber Glock handgun and claimed he had a bomb that his partner could detonate from outside the building, the FBI said.
Fenter allegedly told the assistant manager at the bank that he represented a group of people who were angry at the government, the FBI said.
He has been charged with bank robbery and being armed in the commission of a violent felony.
He is in custody at the federal detention center in SeaTac.
Fenter’s court-appointed attorney, Linda Sullivan, filed a motion to withdraw from the case on Monday. Sullivan’s affidavit is a sealed court document.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle granted the withdrawal Wednesday.
A new lawyer from the Criminal Justice Act attorney panel will be appointed to the case, Settle noted in his order.
Sullivan did not return a phone call on Wednesday, nor did Fenter’s prosecutor, special assistant U.S. attorney Gerald Costello.
After his arrest in Tacoma, Fenter refused to identify himself. He put a glue-like substance over his fingerprints and said his name was Patrick Henry.
He was referred to as the “John Doe bandit” until the FBI revealed his identity on Oct. 16.
Other banks
The FBI also is investigating Fenter for one bank robbery in Seattle in February, one in San Francisco in April and one in Sacramento in August.
He has not been charged with those robberies.
The Feb. 4 robbery of a Washington Mutual in Seattle resulted in building evacuations and street closures when a suspicious bag was left behind in the bank.
Fenter is not suspected of robbing any banks on the North Olympic Peninsula, FBI spokeswoman Roberta Burroughs has said.
Fenter is a marine carpenter who graduated from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. He did office work for Sea Marine until he quit in January.
He and his wife of 20 years, Kateen Fenter, 37, live on the 40-acre Compass Rose Farms near Port Townsend. They have three children.
The farming business, which is owned by Kateen Fenter and her mother, produces wool, honey and produce sold at local farmers markets.
Kateen Fenter learned of her husband’s arrest when an FBI agent called her on Oct. 9. She told the Peninsula Daily News on Oct. 18 that she had no idea Michael had been robbing banks.
Michael Fenter had no criminal record prior to his arrest.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
