Robbery suspect’s ring led to arrest

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, November 1, 2001

A Granite Falls man’s macabre taste in jewelry landed him in a legal nightmare Thursday.

Ryan Russell Thomas, 20, was charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree robbery in connection with a string of holdups at espresso stands near Lake Stevens and Arlington in late September and early October.

Thomas was connected to the crimes in part because he wears a distinctive ring shaped like a human skull, deputy prosecutor David Hiltner alleged in court papers.

Two of the robbery victims noticed a skull ring on the person who held them up. Another victim got a good enough look at the bandit’s face that she was able to work with a Snohomish County sheriff’s detective to prepare a sketch.

A sheriff’s deputy thought Thomas resembled the sketch. Some of the robbery victims agreed that he resembled the skull ring-wearing bandit when they were shown his photo, Hiltner wrote.

Thomas was arrested Oct. 10.

"At the time he was wearing a skull ring," Hiltner wrote.