In the end, 67-year-old Nelson Alfred Anselment got what he apparently wanted – a trip back to prison.
All the Mountlake Terrace man had to do was rob a bank and evade the law for more than a week, while he allegedly blew his loot on hotels, drinks and casinos.
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies arrested Anselment on Wednesday at a house in Tacoma. Police had been searching for him since Sept. 12, when he allegedly robbed a Frontier Bank branch in Lynnwood.
Anselment confessed to the crime once he was in custody of Lynnwood Police Department investigators, detective Jerry Rittgarn said.
Making Anselment’s alleged crime more bizarre is the fact he suffers from a terminal illness. He might have just a few months to live.
“I don’t think his illness had anything to do with this,” Rittgarn said. “He did mention that he’s more comfortable in prison than on the outside. He was calm, matter-of-fact, and he confessed to doing it.”
Anselment was booked into Snohomish County Jail on Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree robbery. He’s being held without bail for violating his parole from state prison, where he was serving time for a prior robbery conviction.
On Sept. 12, he reportedly walked into Frontier Bank on the 21000 block of Highway 99 and told a bank teller he had a gun. He walked out with nearly $2,000, Rittgarn said.
It turns out he was armed with a BB air pistol, police said. They recovered the gun – which resembled a semiautomatic handgun – in Anselment’s abandoned truck, Rittgarn said.
Anselment ditched his 1990 Chevrolet pickup in the 6300 block of 212th Street SW in Lynnwood after the robbery. Over the next few days, he slept in hotel rooms and rode taxicabs to get to Tacoma. He visited casinos along the way, but didn’t come away with any winnings.
Once in Tacoma, Anselment was befriended by a man at a tavern, who allowed Anselment to stay at his house.
“I don’t think they knew he was involved in a bank robbery,” Lynnwood Cmdr. Steve Rider said.
Police still aren’t sure why Anselment chose to rob a bank. He has a long rap sheet and is a suspect in a recent assault in Mountlake Terrace.
“He’s kind of a career criminal,” Rittgarn said. “As far as one specific motive, I don’t think there’s one specific one. He’s been doing this sort of thing since the early 1960s.”
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