Toy gun bank robber nabbed on SR-16

"A man and two juvenile women were arrested for first degree robbery Sept. 28 on Highway 16 near Mullenix Road after the man robbed a Key Bank in Bremerton and fled in a Chrysler Le Baron LE driven by one of the women.Keneti Salafai, 21, admitted to robbing the Key Bank on Kitsap Way in Bremerton with a broken toy gun and a note demanding $500,000.He had a toy revolver and he had a demand note on him, too, said Port Orchard Police Officer Jerry Jensen. It didn't even have a barrel. The barrel was broken off.One of the juvenile women admitted she helped plan the robbery, according to the Bremerton Police Department.A bank teller gave Salafai an undisclosed amount of money and he left on foot, according to the Bremerton Police Department.John Eiselstein, 35, of Bremerton, said he saw the two women driving the Le Baron slowly along the side of the road with the man running along beside them.I thought they were playing some kind of a game, like kids do, but then he jumped in and laid down, he said.Thinking that strange, Eiselstein asked his friend for a pen, and he jotted the license plate onto the palm of his hand. He always carries a pen, he said.Eiselstein and Larry Jones, 47, of Bremerton, accompanied police to the arrest scene to identify the suspects. Jones said he was making a deposit at the bank when the robbery occurred.Although the gun was fake, using it in a robbery is still an aggravating circumstance.While the Bremerton Police Department will take jurisdiction of the investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents will also investigate the robbery.Kitsap County Sheriff's deputy Aaron Baker was first to spot the vehicle.As he fell in behind the Le Baron in his patrol car, the driver pulled over to the side of the road - before he activated his light bar. Deputy Baker did an outstanding job, Jensen said. Normally, in a situation like that, you want a lot of back-up. "

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