The FBI Los Angeles Fugitive Task Force (LAFTF) arrested the remaining two, at-large subjects believed to be responsible for takeover-style bank robberies in Washington, including one in Kirkland.
In the robberies, subjects entered the banks in groups, covered head-to-toe in loose clothing and gloves, and demanded money while jumping over teller counters.
Around 6 p.m. last night, March 28, the LATF arrested Charles A. Williams, 40, in south Los Angeles. after surveillance information led them into a vehicle pursuit, continued on foot by task force members and uniformed Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) personnel. Once detained, Williams presented a valid California driver’s license issued to an individual of a different name. Shortly before 11 a.m. today, the LATF arrested Janalisa Estrada, 33, without incident outside an apartment complex in Hollywood, Calif.
According to the federal criminal complaint, seven individuals conspired to commit the crime of bank robbery and committed at least three bank robberies in Washington state: On Sept. 6, 2012, a U.S. Bank Branch in Lakewood; on Oct. 22, 2012, a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Seattle; and on Dec. 20, 2012, a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Kirkland.
On Jan. 31, the South Sound Gang Task Force (SSGTF) in Washington arrested five of the subjects: Anthony V. Mosley, 46, of Tacoma; and four residents of Los Angeles: Kevin L. Brown, 38; Curtis W. Smith, 22; Douglas L. Smith, 22; and Jeanine M. Daniels, 32. FBI agents initially arrested the five subjects on Dec. 22, 2012 on state bank robbery charges. The SSGTF arrested the subjects as they prepared to board a 2:55 p.m. Greyhound bus to Los Angeles. Investigators were waiting at the bus station, based on information that the group frequently traveled to Los Angeles by Greyhound bus within days of a bank robbery.
The SSGTF continues to investigate the possible connection between these subjects and additional bank robberies conducted with similar methods
— a Sept. 13, 2012 robbery of a Washington Federal Bank in Federal Way; at least 10 bank robberies in Michigan committed between August 2011 and August 2012; and at least one bank robbery in Ohio in 2012.
Williams is wanted for alleged criminal activity in multiple jurisdictions and will first face California state charges on April 1. Estrada will make her initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court – Central District of California in Los Angeles, regarding the federal criminal complaint out of the Western District of Washington.
The LATF partners the FBI Los Angeles Division and LAPD to pursue and capture dangerous fugitives so they face justice for their alleged criminal activity. The Tacoma-based SSGTF is investigating the robberies in Washington state in partnership with the Lakewood Police Department’s Gang Unit and the FBI Seattle Safe Streets Task Force.
The SSGTF is composed of members of the FBI Seattle Division, Lakewood and Tacoma police departments, the Washington State Patrol, the Washington State Department of Corrections, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). FBI entities nationwide collaborated in the investigation, including the Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, and Toledo offices.
