For the second time in as many weeks, an arraignment of a Port Townsend boat builder and farmer accused of bank robbery has been postponed.
Fenter, 40, is accused of robbing $73,000 from a Bank of America branch in Tacoma armed with a .40-caliber Glock handgun in October, and is suspected in three other bank robberies, the FBI said.
He was scheduled to enter a plea in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Oct. 30, and again on Friday.
Court documents showing Fenter’s new arraignment date were sealed as of Saturday.
Fenter remains in custody at the federal detention center in SeaTac without a posted bail.
Before he was taken into custody on Oct. 8, Fenter lived on the 40-acre Compass Rose Farms near Port Townsend with his wife, Kateen Fenter,their three children and his in-laws.
The family raised wool, honey and produce sold at local farmers markets on the farm owned by Kateen Fenter and her mother.
A graduate of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Townsend, Michael Fenter, working in his field of marine carpentry, paid the bills and the mortgage on the land that the couple bought in 2007, his wife said.
His first arraignment was delayed because of a change of attorneys.
Fenter’s court-appointed attorney, Linda Sullivan, withdrew from the case on Oct. 26. His new court-appointed attorney, Timothy Lohraff, took the case on Oct. 29.
The FBI is investigating Fenter, who had no criminal record at the time of his arrest, for bank robberies this year in Seattle, Sacramento, San Francisco and Tacoma.
He has not been charged with those robberies.
He is not being investigated for bank robberies on the North Olympic Peninsula, the FBI said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
