A man admitted to a string of bank robberies, including a US Bank branch in Vancouver, on Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
Anthony James Martinis, 42, who used to live in Everett, was sentenced to 6½ years in prison after robbing 10 banks over about a monthlong period last fall, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Martinis was arrested on Nov. 3 in Oklahoma City.
The robbery spree began on Sept. 17 at the Fibre Federal Credit Union in Longview. The robber handed the teller a note demanding money from the till. Three other banks in Yakima, Lacey and Milton were robbed before Martinis robbed three banks in Oregon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Vancouver robbery at US Bank, 8700 E. Mill Plain Blvd., was the eighth robbery that Martinis admitted to committing. Vancouver police said that on Oct. 22, a man walked into the bank and stood in line for a few minutes before telling the teller that she was being robbed. The man said to remain calm “and no one gets hurt.”
The next day, Martinis robbed a bank in Boise, Idaho, and then a credit union a couple of days later in Roy, Utah, before getting caught.
