Search for bank robber continues
<p>Ponderay Police say a man in his 20s, seen above in a still from a security camera, walked into the Mountain West Bank in Ponderay and demanded money. The man fled after realizing an employee tripped a panic alarm. (Photo courtesy PONDERAY POLICE)</p>
PONDERAY — The suspect in the failed March 6 attempt to rob a Ponderay bank remained at large Monday, according to law enforcement.
“We’re getting leads from people,” Ponderay Police Chief Michael Hutter said Monday. “Not all the leads are local.”
A man described as a white male in his 20s, 5-foot 8-inche/Users/carolinelobsinger/Desktop/ebee/online/3-17-15 upload/letter 2.txts tall, with a thin build, light brown hair, lightly unshaven, wearing an olive drab one-piece jumpsuit and a floppy desert camouflage hat and sunglasses, walked into the Ponderay branch of Mountain West Bank, 476655 Highway 95, at approximately 10:25 a.m. on Friday, March 6, told the manager he was armed, and demanded an undisclosed amount of money.
But the would-be bank robber fled — without any cash — when he saw an employee activate a silent alarm.
Hutter said the investigation was “getting closer,” noting that law enforcement officials have not “exhausted all the leads we have available.”
“I’m hopeful someone will recognize the photo and give us a viable lead,” he said.
The Ponderay Police are working with detectives from the Bonner County Sheriff’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Hutter.
The attempted back robbery was the first the city of Ponderay has experienced in 13 years, according to the Ponderay Police.
Anyone with information about the identity of the suspect is asked to contact the Ponderay Police Department at 265-4251, or Bonner Dispatch at 265-5525.