Three arrested in connection with several bank robberies

Three bank-robbery suspects have been arrested in recent days by Seattle robbery detectives and a violent-crime task force.

"It's been a good week for us," said Sgt. Jay Mooney, whose detectives have been working with the Puget Sound Violent Crime Task Force, made up of area law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

The most recent arrest was on Tuesday night at a Capitol Hill grocery. Arrested was Eric James Evans, 29, who has been charged in one robbery, but is believed to have robbed as many as seven others banks, according to Clem Benton, a spokesman for Seattle police.

He was charged with robbing the Bank of America branch in the QFC store in University Village on Sept. 16, said Robbie Burroughs, a spokeswoman for the FBI.

The other two arrests came on Nov 1.

Mooney said police were doing surveillance in the area of 12th Avenue and East Madison Street when a Wells Fargo bank branch two blocks away was robbed. A man jumped a counter of the bank, grabbed a handful of cash and ran outside and disappeared into the neighborhood.

Someone thought he may have run into Northwest School, a nearby alternative school, but a search did not find him. Police were just about to leave when he was found hiding on the roof of the building.

That man, 46, was arrested. He had just gotten out of prison so he is not thought to be involved in other bank robberies, Mooney said.

As police were finishing up that arrest, another suspect was caught as he was walking toward the Key Bank branch near 12th Avenue and East Madison. That man, in his 30s, is a suspect in "a couple other" previous bank robberies, Mooney said.

Dave Birkland's phone message number is 206-515-5682. His e-mail address is dbirkland@seattletimes.com.