DEPOE BAY — Two alleged bank robbers were arrested Jan. 29 after their getaway plans were thwarted by hard-to-scare bankers, alert residents and a bulletproof dragnet thrown over Lincoln County by a half-dozen law enforcement agencies.

The incident unfolded late Thursday morning during a retirement party for a Columbia Bank employee who thought the masked men were a practical joke there for cake and coffee until they drew guns and ransacked the vault for $50,000 cash. The bankers, some hardened by previous hold-ups, remained steady during the event and calmly related the details to 911 and a Lincoln Co. Sheriff’s deputy who was on duty three blocks away. An eyewitness walking by who saw the suspects enter the bank said the deputy arrived a minute after the robbers bolted.

Fleeing south on Hwy. 101 in a red sedan with no license plates, the pair turned east off the highway onto a back road, abandoning the getaway car in a vacant 12-acre subdivision and setting it on fire before jumping into a charcoal grey Toyota that had been stashed there. The event was first reported as a fire, but an alert resident who watched the whole thing gave a description of the escape vehicle to deputies.

Within minutes of the 11:48 a.m. robbery a countywide wide net had been thrown over all escape routes with a half-dozen state, county and local agencies on alert, including OSP, LCSO, Lincoln City P.D. to the north and police departments in Newport, Toledo and Florence.

At approximately 12:51 p.m., Newport Police spotted a grey Toyota Camry near Don Davis Park in Newport. Witnesses reported seeing two men leave the grey Camry on foot. Searching the area, police spotted a white male matching a suspect description and arrested him at the intersection of Highways 101 and 20. Minutes later, the second suspect was spotted at Nye Beach and arrested.

A search of the area near the vehicle revealed clothing in a public trash can that matched that worn in the robbery. Newport police dogs Magnum and Sly sniffed around Don Davis park and its related trails up to Nye Beach, producing a large backpack with over $50,000 in cash and two weapons.

Franco Armando Mereno Jr., 37 of Portland, and Jonathon F. Schwentner, 43 of Canby, were lodged at the Lincoln County Jail and charged with Robbery I, Kidnap II and Aggravated Theft. This incident is under investigation by the Lincoln County Major Crime Team.

Based on the most recent available FBI data, there were 28 reported incidents of robbery, burglary, and larceny at financial institutions in Oregon in 2022.  Bank robbery is defined as a violent crime. The incidents were part of the 1,740 total bank crimes reported that year across the United States.

This was fast, competent work by Lincoln County law enforcement. A credible former law enforcement professional who followed the event as it occurred called the police response “impressive” and the robbers’ plan “tactically ridiculous” due to the lack of escape routes. It was also reported that a deputy briefly pulled the suspects over in Newport just a block from the county jail based on a vehicle description but let them go when the license plates didn’t match with initial reports. An LCSO sergeant later said the confrontation did not rise to “probable cause.”