TACOMA — Port Townsend boat-builder Michael John Fenter pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to four bank robberies in Washington state and California last year.
The 40-year old marine carpenter — who lived on Compass Rose Farm near Port Townsend with his wife, three children and in-laws — pleaded guilty because he wanted to do the right thing, his attorney said.
“I think that Mr. Fenter realized that he had made a serious mistake and wanted to take responsibility for his action and try to get this cleaned up,” said attorney Timothy Lohraff of Seattle.
Fenter pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to three counts of bank robbery, one count of armed bank robbery, and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle in Tacoma on June 14.
Fenter admitted to robbing banks in Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco and Sacramento, while threatening to detonate a bomb.
A total of $159,200 was stolen from the banks.
Police recovered $73,000 outside the Tacoma branch of the Bank of America in October, when Fenter, armed with a .40-caliber handgun and a box allegedly containing explosives, was arrested after attempting to rob the bank.
Police have not recovered $86,200 in stolen money.
Fenter, who had no criminal record at the time of his arrest, originally was charged only with the Tacoma bank robbery.
His trial had been postponed until April 6 to allow more time for an FBI investigation of Fenter’s possible involvement in the other robberies.
Maximum penalties possible for the charges against Fenter could add up to a life sentence.
The bank robbery charges come with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine each.
The maximum sentence for armed bank robbery is 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Those sentences can be served concurrently.
But the charge of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence — which calls for a sentence of from five years to life in prison — must be served consecutive to all other charges.
Lohraff said a decreased sentence was not included in the plea.
The guilty plea will lower his offender score by three points, but he said that doesn’t mean much.
“In theory that helps your sentence,” Lohraff said.
“The sentence will be whatever the court sentences him to.”
Fenter had told tellers that he was robbing the banks because he was angry about how the government was spending bailout money and wanted to give the money to people who need it, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office prepared statement.
At least once he also said that he was a member of an organization motivated by the same anger.
Lohraff declined to comment on what Fenter did with the money, his motivation and whether he worked alone.
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Emily Langlie said there is “nothing in the public record that would indicate Mr. Fenter was operating with others.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Fenter admitted to robbing:
• The Washington Mutual Bank branch on 4th Avenue in Seattle Feb. 4, 2009, where he threatened to detonate explosives he said he carried in a briefcase, and left with $9,200.
• A Bank of America branch in San Francisco on April 15, 2009, where he told the teller he was “Patrick Henry” and threatened to detonate a bomb with his cell phone if police were called too soon after he left. He took $43,000.
• A Wells Fargo branch in Sacramento last August, where he again used the bomb ruse, and said the money was for “the cause.” He took $34,000.
• A Bank of America branch in Tacoma on Oct. 8, where he was apprehended outside the bank.
The object he had claimed was a bomb contained a commercial grade blasting cap and a battery that were not wired together, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Fenter, a graduate of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, worked outside jobs to help support the 40-acre farm owned by his wife, Kateen Fenter, and her mother near Snow Creek by Discovery Bay, about 10 miles from Port Townsend.
Kateen Fenter, said she was shocked when the FBI told her he had been arrested.
She said Thursday that she was not ready to comment on his guilty plea.
In a Peninsula Daily News interview in February, she said that robbing banks was completely out of character for the man she has known for 25 years.
She said he was calm, quiet and creative — a musician and carpenter with an attention to detail and a love of American history.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
