SAMMAMISH, Wash. — A bank robber, who lived in a well-built underground bunker discovered in a thickly-wooded area near East Lake Sammamish, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
[ Click here to see inside the Sammamish bunker. ]
Bradley Steven Robinett, 46, pleaded guilty in January 2015 to escape, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to tell investigators where he had stashed dozens of stolen firearms and other stolen goods near Portland, Oregon, Sammamish, and in Olympic National Park.
Investigators spend hours in March searching the bunker.
According to Washington’s Western District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Robinett was arrested in Hillsboro, Oregon, in June 2014 after being on the run for nearly five years.
According to court filings, Robinett was convicted of bank robbery, and in 2004 was sentenced to seven years in prison. In August 2009, he was released from a federal prison in Arizona and put on a bus to Seattle with the requirement that he report to a halfway house within 48 hours.
Robinett never reported to the halfway house and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
In September, 2009, police on Bainbridge Island attempted to stop a car that led them on a high speed chase.
Police said Robinett was driving the car, but he abandoned it and was able to elude officers.
Authorities said inside the car officers found a Glock 9 mm pistol and a ballistic vest that had been stolen from the Seattle Police Department several years earlier.
Before he was arrested last June, law enforcement said the last time they saw Robinett was in November, 2009, when Washington State Patrol detectives encountered him driving a stolen car at a Park and Ride facility in Bellevue.
Police say Robinett attempted to ram a WSP vehicle before fleeing, and though the trooper driving the vehicle managed to avoid a crash, Robinett was able to escape. The trooper Robinett tried to run down was at the bunker today.
“It's nice to have some resolution. It's nice to have some loose ends tied up,” said Detective Sgt. Jeff Maijala.
The vehicle Robinett was driving was reported stolen in Oregon, which led to his arrest.
On Jan. 29, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to escape, being a felon in possession of a firearm and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. He faces more than 12 years in prison when he is sentenced in May.
The former Marine also managed