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Uncommon suspect surprises police
'I've never seen a female serial bank robber'
Thursday, January 20, 2000
By TRACY JOHNSON
A Renton woman has been charged with a Spanaway bank robbery, and authorities are looking into whether she's also the frumpily dressed woman who has held up at least eight other banks.
The case is an odd one -- bank robbers usually are men. Sometimes, women drive the getaway car or stash the cash, police say. Only occasionally does a woman go into a bank and demand money; and robbing multiple banks would be even more unusual.
"I've never seen a female serial bank robber," said Deputy Ed Troyer, a 15-year Pierce County sheriff's deputy.
The suspect, Joan K. Lambert, 36, of Renton, remained in jail last night after being arrested Tuesday afternoon. A 31-year-old woman arrested with her is being held on drug warrants.
The FBI said Lambert matches the description of the woman who has robbed banks in King, Pierce and Thurston counties since October.
In at least some of the robberies, the woman has worn a long, floral-printed skirt or a dress, a thick coat of makeup, a sweat shirt, gloves and a hat pulled over her ears.
About 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, a woman went into the Timberland Savings Bank in Spanaway and slipped the teller a note demanding cash. It said the teller wouldn't get hurt if she didn't draw attention to herself, according to court papers.
No bait bills, no dye packs -- just 20s and 50s, the note instructed.
The teller put $4,330 in an envelope and gave it to the woman, according to charging papers.
The woman told the teller to have a nice day, then left. Another bank employee told police he saw the woman run to a waiting car.
Just 15 minutes later in a parking lot, a Pierce County sheriff's deputy spotted a maroon Datsun like the one the bank worker described.
The deputy, who had seen bank security-camera footage, thought the two women in the car resembled the robbers and arrested them.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson can be reached at 206-448-8128 or tracyjohnson@seattle-pi.com
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