PORT TOWNSEND – A man who said he was armed robbed Port Townsend’s Washington Mutual Bank on Tuesday, and eluded police who tracked him into nearby Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park.
The robbery is the second this year at the bank at 419 Kearney St.
The robber was described as a white man about 5-feet-11-inches-tall in his early 20s.
He wore a camouflaged, hooded jacket, Port Townsend police said.
He remained at large Tuesday evening.
He walked into the bank and handed the teller a note demanding money at about 1:30 p.m Tuesday, police said.
“He mentioned the fact that he had a weapon,” said Port Townsend Police Sgt. Ed Green.
He left with an undisclosed amount of money, Green said.
No one was hurt, he said.
Alerted by a silent alarm, police were told by witnesses that the robber might have escaped on foot into Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park.
With rifles in hand, police searched the park, scouring the thick brush and peering beneath pine trees.
A couple of pitched tents found in the park were cautiously searched, but the robber was not found in the park.
FBI agents were contacted and agents arrived at the bank. The federal agency has jurisdiction over federally insured financial institutions.
However, unless the robber is thought to have been involved in a string of bank robberies, the Port Townsend Police Department will head the investigation, said Port Townsend Police Det. Jason Greenspane.
The investigation will include more interviews with witnesses, Greenspane said.
On March 17, Daniel Lee Semingson, 36, of Port Townsend robbed the same Washington Mutual Bank and was apprehended by police less than 48 hours after the heist.
He pleaded guilty two weeks later, explaining to Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser that an extreme alcohol addiction led him to commit the robbery.
Semingson was turned in to police after he talked about having robbed the bank as he spent the $1,000 bank loot to buy St. Patrick’s Day drinks for himself and others at Water Street Brewing and Ale House in Port Townsend.
Police arrested Semingson at his house on March 18 and found several drafts of robbery notes demanding money in Semingson’s bedroom.
Anyone with information regarding Tuesday’s robbery suspect is asked to phone either the Port Townsend Police Department at 360-385-2322 or the FBI’s Seattle office at 206-622-0460.
