The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office and Bremerton Police Department were busy June 7 as they responded to multiple armed robberies throughout the county.
Four businesses were robbed at gunpoint by a group of armed suspects, including a 14-year-old boy who was arrested and booked into the county Juvenile Detention Center, a KCSO news release reads.
The teen, who is from Spokane, was charged in county Superior Court, Juvenile Division, with first-degree robbery June 8, court papers say.
Also arrested was a 32-year-old woman who was driving the teen suspects during their crime spree. She was booked into the county jail for two counts of first-degree robbery. Bail was set at $500,000.
The woman was charged in Superior Court June 8. If convicted the maximum sentence is life in prison and $100,000 in fines.
Two other juvenile boys who are suspects are still on the loose.
The spree began at approximately 7:22 p.m. when a clerk at the C&C Super Save convenience store in Navy Yard City reported two teens wearing black hoodie sweatshirts and jogging pants burst into the store, pointed a handgun at her and demanded money, per KCSO. The suspects stole additional items and fled.
At 7:29 pm, Bremerton police were dispatched to Rob’s Quick Stop on 15th street for a second armed robbery where two boys of the same description entered the store and pointed a handgun at the clerk and demanded money. After that robbery, the two suspects fled on foot toward Callow Avenue. Store surveillance video shows the pair associated with a Jeep Cherokee just prior to the robbery. Two witnesses said a gun was pointed at them and they were afraid of being shot.
At 7:45 p.m., a third robbery was dispatched at the Sheridan Mini Mart where the clerk described that “two young black males” entered the store and pointed a gun at her and demanded money, the release states. The clerk and witnesses described the teens as wearing masks and having fled on foot toward Rickey Road before getting into an older black Jeep with missing hubcaps.
There was a lull for a few hours, but at 10:35 p.m. a fourth robbery call was broadcast, this time from the 76 Gas Station on Old Frontier Road in Central Kitsap. The clerk reported two young men wearing black hoodie sweatshirts and masks entered the store and pointed handguns at him, demanding money.
The suspects assaulted him before stealing items and running away on foot on Old Frontier Road toward Silverdale. A black SUV was seen and sped off at a high rate. The clerk suffered minor injuries.
At approximately 11:22 p.m., a KCSO sergeant was patrolling at Sylvan and Wheaton Ways when he observed a black Jeep Cherokee pulling into the parking lot of a 7-11, KCSO says.
Two BPD officers assisted, and when they attempted to contact the vehicle, two young men ran away. The woman driver also walked away. A third juvenile remained inside the vehicle and was taken into custody.
“Smokey,” a Washington State Patrol plane, arrived to assist with a K-9 track for the other three suspects. They found the woman at Spruce Place, where she was arrested.
“We are aware that there have been a series of similar robberies at different locations in Western Washington recently and detectives from BPD and KCSO are working with our partner agencies to determine if there is any connection,” the release states.
In court papers, the woman admitted to driving the Jeep, but said she did not know the teens, only calling them “Moe, Joe and Curly.” She said she did not know they were doing criminal activity. She thought they were smoking cannabis. She said she drove to those locations because she was checking out landmarks of importance from when she was a child growing up in Bremerton. She admitted she saw them change coats in-between stops.
She finally said she did hear them talking about stealing, but she didn’t believe them. She also heard them talk about guns, but they then said if they had such a weapon it wouldn’t be real.
Anyone with information on the robberies can contact detective Andrew Conway at kcsodetectives@kitsap.gov or detective corporal Derek Ejde at Derek.Ejde@ci.bremerton.wa.us.
