LYNNWOOD — A tracking device tossed in the loot bag might have been the robber’s undoing.
The masked man made off with nearly $50,000 from a Bothell bank vault March 11, but hidden in the cash was device that could be tracked using Global Positioning System technology.
A security company began relaying the device’s location to police. It was tracked to an intersection in Lynnwood.
A Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy was stopped in the intersection around the same time. The deputy reported that he looked over at Jeep Cherokee stopped beside him. The man caught his attention because he appeared exceptionally nervous, according to court papers. The man, later identified as Stephen Dowdney, was sweating but had gloves on, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Matt Hunter wrote.
The Jeep didn’t have a license plate so the deputy activated his emergency lights and siren. Dowdney, 45, allegedly raced off and ended up in the parking lot of the Lynnwood Fred Meyer. He ditched the stolen Jeep and ran for the grocery store.
Police chased after him. Dowdney was seen stripping off his clothes. He shed his jacket in a produce bin. He dropped a gun, knife, sheath and belt in the frozen food aisle, Hunter wrote.
Officers caught up with him and took him to the ground.
Dowdney recently was charged with first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty this week and trial was scheduled for mid-May. He was being held on $500,000 bail. He faces up to 15 years in prison if he’s convicted as charged.
Witnesses reported that a man rode up to the bank on a bicycle. He was wearing an “old man” mask, cap, jacket, jeans taped at the ankles, brown tennis shoes and gloves. He allegedly pulled a gun and threatened employees. He warned them that the bank was being watched and demanded that no one activate any hold-up alarms.
He ordered an employee to open the vault and to load up cash in a bag Dowdney carried. He pedaled off, and employees called 911.
A police dog allegedly found an abandoned bicycle nearby.
Officers later searched the Jeep Cherokee. They recovered the bank’s money, a police scanner and whiskey. The backseat was down and cops found a bicycle tire pump, Hunter wrote.
The gun dropped in the grocery store was an Airsoft BB gun.
Dowdney is a convicted felony with a lengthy criminal history, including 56 misdemeanors. He was last in prison in 2013 for property crimes in King County.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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