EVERETT — A former Everett Community College runner faces up to five years in prison after admitting he robbed an Everett bank and carjacked a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint.
Berekett Million Piatt turned 21 last month while locked up in the county jail. He didn’t have criminal convictions, until now. On Wednesday, the young man pleaded guilty to three felonies in connection with a Jan. 23 crime spree in north Everett.
Piatt went on a shopping spree after holding up a bank on Broadway. He spent money on strippers and a used car, court papers said. Investigators also found a plane ticket to Puerto Rico in one of the locations where Piatt had been hiding after the heist.
He told friends he intended to flee the country because he had kidnapped a girl and robbed a bank. Piatt was arrested in Tacoma about a week after the robbery.
Police had released images of the robber, captured on the bank’s surveillance cameras. Tips poured in from members of the college community who recognized Piatt.
The girl told detectives that she was walking toward her car near the EvCC campus Jan. 23 when Piatt pointed a gun at her and demanded she chauffeur him around.
He ordered her to park near a bank and threatened to kill her if she drove off.
Piatt went into the bank, handed the teller a note demanding $9,000. The note also threatened the teller’s life. The robber also ordered the teller to turn over his driver’s license.
Piatt returned to the teenage girl’s car and forced her to drive away. He threatened to track the girl down and kill her before he got out of the car near Providence Medical Center Everett.
The girl, frightened by the gunman’s threats, didn’t report the incident to police until the next day.
Piatt on Wednesday pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, second-degree assault and harassment. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
In November 2011, Piatt won a Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges cross-country championship and helped EvCC claim the team title.
Piatt attended EvCC for one more quarter, but didn’t enroll this fall.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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