ARLINGTON — A drug-addicted woman arrested in connection with last week’s bank robbery in downtown Arlington may have something worse weighing on her conscience.
Navey Erlene Skinner also is accused of stealing her own daughter’s presents — on Christmas Day.
“If they catch her and put her in jail, maybe she can get the help she needs,” Skinner’s mother, Tina Duran, said Wednesday, hours before her daughter was arrested.
Tacoma police officers caught up with Skinner later in the day, Arlington city spokeswoman Kristin Banfield said. Detectives were dispatched to bring her back to Snohomish County.
Authorities had been seeking Skinner, 34, in connection with Friday’s robbery of the Chase Bank on the 500 block of N. Olympic Avenue.
A thin woman with sunken cheeks, shoulder-length brown hair and a baseball hat worn sideways walked into the downtown bank around 2:30 p.m. She passed a note threatening violence if the teller failed to follow instructions. The robber left with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Early the next morning, Duran said police showed up at her house, looking for her daughter. Mom thought the worst, given Skinner’s history of substance abuse.
“I honestly thought they were here to tell me she was dead,” Duran said. “She’s been running the streets on drugs for six years now.”
For about the same amount of time, Duran, 51, said she’s had custody of Skinner’s 12-year-old daughter. Duran described her granddaughter as “a wonderful kid” who gets good grades and has lots of friends.
Normally, Duran said she doesn’t allow Skinner into her Everett home, but she made an exception on Christmas. She soon came to regret that decision after about $100 worth of her granddaughter’s gifts disappeared. The presents included clothes and makeup.
“We gave her a chance,” she said.
“My granddaughter called her on the phone and told her to give it back.”
Luckily, Duran said, the most expensive gift — an iPod — wasn’t stolen. That’s something she said she couldn’t afford to replace with money so tight.
Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz confirmed that detectives took a report about the Christmas Day theft.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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