Jewelry-store robbery suspect fled to Europe

Adrian Elvis Gordon has left the country.

The 18-year-old Seattle high-school student accused in the violent armed robbery of a Snohomish jewelry store earlier this month boarded a flight bound for London with a connecting flight to Zurich, Switzerland, on April 16, Snohomish police said yesterday.

Gordon, whose mother is a physician and whose father is a prominent Los Angeles attorney, has a grandmother in Switzerland, spends summers there with his family and speaks at least one foreign language, according to police and friends. He also spent part of his sophomore year studying in Switzerland.

Police verified Gordon arrived at London's Heathrow Airport after taking a direct flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and were trying to confirm that he arrived in Zurich, Snohomish Police Sgt. Corey Cook said.

Gordon's roughly $1,500 ticket was paid for in cash by a man who accompanied him to the airport, Cook said. The airline employee who sold the ticket said Gordon flew alone and checked one small sport bag. The employee described the man who bought the ticket as being in his 50s, about 5-foot-8-inches to 5-foot-10-inches, with a disheveled appearance and ruddy face.

Police said they have not identified the man. He could face criminal charges, which could include first-degree rendering criminal assistance if it's determined he helped Gordon leave the country, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mark Roe said yesterday.

Gordon's parents could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Cook said Snohomish police tried to serve a $100,000 cash-only arrest warrant on Gordon April 18 at his family's large, French-provincial-style home on Ravenna Boulevard, where they spoke with his mother.

"Her response was, 'I don't know where he is. He's 18 years old,' " Cook said.

She allowed police to search for his passport, which they could not find. Police said they confiscated a stolen rifle found in a crawl space.

Roe said the Prosecutor's Office has been in contact with the FBI and intends to try to bring Gordon back to the United States. Since Gordon has been charged with a crime and left the country, the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office could issue a warrant charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

"I don't know if (his fleeing) is going to accomplish anything but a delay — and an expensive one at that," Roe said.

The airline worker saw a flier with Gordon's name and remembered helping him at the airport, Cook said.

"He remembered making some comment (to Adrian) like 'Elvis has left the airport,' " in reference to Gordon's middle name, Cook said.

Prosecutors have charged Gordon and 17-year-old Carlo A. Torrejon with first-degree robbery with a firearm for the April 12 robbery of Sachi Fine Jewelry & Design in downtown Snohomish. They are accused of walking into the store shortly before noon, spraying the staff with pepper spray, smashing the jewelry cases and grabbing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise before fleeing in a stolen car.

Torrejon, who has pleaded not guilty, is also accused of hitting store owner Brad Jorgensen on the head with a hammer.

A local businessman shot at the getaway car Gordon allegedly was driving, hitting him in the arm, according to police and prosecutors. The pair ditched the car a few blocks away and ran into a wooded area, where a tracking dog led officers to Gordon, police said.

He was arrested and treated at a local hospital for his gunshot wound, and posted $7,000 on a $70,000 bond to be released from the Snohomish County Jail the next day.

He showed up at Roosevelt High School — where he was a senior and Torrejon was a junior — the day before he flew to London. He and Torrejon, a guard on the boys varsity basketball team, were placed on emergency expulsion later in the week, after school-district officials learned of the allegations against them.

Janet Burkitt can be reached at 206- 515-5689 or jburkitt@seattletimes.com.