Escapee from Bainbridge police gets 12-year term

Published 9:40 am Sunday, May 24, 2015

A convicted bank robber and fugitive who escaped from pursuing Bainbridge police officers five years ago by paddling away in a kayak was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Police caught up with Bradley Steven Robinett, 46, last spring in Hillsboro, Oregon after Robinett had spent more than five years on the lam.

Hillsboro police arrested Robinett on June 2, 2014 in the parking lot of a Fred Meyer department store after police patrolling the lot used an automated license plate reader that takes pictures of plates and compares the numbers with those in a database of wanted vehicles and found a stolen vehicle. Robinett was taken into custody after he returned to a 2014 Kia Sorento that had been reported stolen in King County.

U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said Robinett pleaded guilty in January to escape, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle.

As part of his guilty plea, Robinett agreed to tell investigators where he had stashed dozens of stolen firearms and other stolen goods in a greenbelt near condominiums in Sammamish, as well as in Olympic National Park and in Portland, Oregon.

“This defendant left a dangerous wake wherever he went — for the law enforcement officials who tried to apprehend him, and the public who lived near his stashes of weapons and other stolen goods,” Hayes said. “I commend the FBI and ATF agents who continue to use information from this defendant to protect public safety.”

In addition to 12 years in prison, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart also imposed three years of supervised release following prison and $12,886 in restitution.

Robinett was convicted of bank robbery and in 2004 was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to the indictment and other court documents.

He was released from a federal prison in Arizona in August 2009 and put on a bus to Seattle with the requirement to report to a designated halfway house within 48 hours.

Robinett never reported to the halfway house, however, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

In September 2009, Bainbridge police tried to stop a vehicle near Battle Point Park but the driver led them on a high speed chase. Robinett fled from the car and got away by paddling away in a kayak.

Inside the car, officers found a Glock 9 mm pistol and a ballistic vest.  Both items had been stolen from the Seattle Police Department several years earlier. The vehicle Robinett was driving had also been reported stolen in Beaverton, Oregon.

Before his arrest last June in Oregon, the last time officers saw Robinett was in November 2009, when Washington State Patrol detectives saw him at a park & ride lot in Bellevue.

Robinett was driving a stolen vehicle and tried to ram a WSP vehicle before fleeing the area.

The WSP trooper driving the vehicle managed to avoid the collision, but Robinett was able to escape.

He was later featured on the television programs “Washington’s Most Wanted” and “America’s Most Wanted.”

Robinett was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm for the gun found in the car on Bainbridge.

In addition to his bank robbery conviction, he has prior felony convictions for possession of stolen property (King County and Clallam County), unlawful possession of a machine gun, car theft and burglary (King County).

Authorities said the investigation was a joint effort between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Washington State Patrol, the Bainbridge Island Police Department, and the Hillsboro, Oregon Police Department.