A 31-year-old man received a 10-year prison sentence on Tuesday for his involvement last year in more than a dozen bank robberies, including ones in Kent, Auburn, Renton, Covington, Federal Way and Des Moines.
Robert Cal Adams III was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release, which listed Adams as being from King County. He was known as the “Rabid Fan Bandit” by the FBI because of the various hats with sports logos he wore in a string of robberies.
The investigation also revealed Adams’ involvement in a second string of bank robberies dubbed the “Buddy Bandit” bank robberies where juveniles were recruited, trained and sent in to rob tellers using notes almost identical to the one Adams used when solo.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour stated that this sentence is imposed “with a heavy emphasis on the defendant’s decision to involve juveniles” in criminal activity.
“This defendant not only terrorized tellers across our state, he recruited and trained teenagers to continue his crime spree,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “His willingness to draw young people into these bank robberies makes this a particularly despicable crime.”
Adams pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and 10 individual counts of bank robbery. According to records filed in the case, Adams robbed the following banks in 2014 by handing a teller a threatening note demanding various amounts of cash:
Chase Bank on Auburn Way in Auburn, March 3; Banner Bank on East Mission Street in Spokane, March 10; Chase Bank on 272nd Street in Covington, March 13; Chase Bank on 108th SE in Renton, March 19; Wells Fargo Bank on Gravelly Lake Dr. SW in Tacoma, March 24; and Chase Bank on South 19th Street in Tacoma on March 31.
After the March 2014 bank robberies, Adams recruited others to his scheme and is convicted in connection with four other bank robberies in April 2014 where juveniles went into the banks with notes demanding money and threatening harm to the tellers.
These robberies include April 1, Chase Bank on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma; April 7, US Bank on 176th St., Puyallup; April 9, Alaska Federal Credit Union branches in Renton and Kent; April 9, US Bank on Pacific Highway in Des Moines; April 10, Wells Fargo on 72nd Street East, Tacoma; April 11, BECU on Pacific Highway South, Kent; and April 11, Bank of America on SW 336th Street, Federal Way.
Finally, Adams teamed up with co-defendant Vincent G. Thompson to rob Chase Bank, on Canyon Road East in Puyallup on April 14. The final robbery in the spree was on April 21. Following that robbery of US Bank on Pacific Highway South in Des Moines, investigators were able to locate Adams at a nearby motel and arrested him.
“Bank robbers who commit their crimes across multiple jurisdictions might never face justice if not for the coordination of partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Frank Montoya, Jr., of the FBI’s Seattle Division. “The FBI’s Seattle Safe Streets Task Force and its partners throughout the state shared information at every step of this investigation, which allowed us to determine connections between bank robberies and identify everyone involved.”
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
