SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — A 44-year-old man was arrested Saturday after deputies said he broke a glass door with a flowerpot to enter a closed bank in Spokane Valley.
Deputies responded around 11:40 a.m. Oct. 4 to a burglary in progress at a bank in the 500 block of North Mullan Road, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
When deputies arrived, they found the bank’s front glass door shattered, with a broken flowerpot and dirt scattered in the doorway. Bank security confirmed through video surveillance that a man was inside the building without permission.
Deputies surrounded the bank and used a loudspeaker to order the suspect to surrender, warning that a K9 might be deployed if he did not comply. After several minutes, the suspect — identified as Richard N. Brown, 44 — exited the building and was taken into custody without incident.
Brown told deputies he believed someone inside the bank needed help and broke the door to check. He admitted it was “a little ridiculous” to stay inside after finding no one, according to court documents.
Damage to the bank was estimated at about $5,000, authorities said.
Brown was booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of second-degree burglary and first-degree malicious mischief. A court commissioner set his bond at $10,000, and he remained in jail as of the weekend.
