BEND, Ore.- An Oregon police affidavit says a robber at the Home Federal Bank two weeks ago demanded money by giving the teller a note written on the back of a grocery receipt.
It was only part of the receipt, Bend Detective Jeff Frickey said in the affidavit, but it had the last four digits of a food stamp account and the account balance – enough to get investigators going.
State records provided a name to go with the account number, the Bend Bulletin reported, and an online search of the name turned up a pawn shop transaction with a telephone number.
A service provider then came up with the coordinates of the phone, the Stillwater Campground in Central Oregon.
That, the affidavit said, is where 54-year-old Robert Short was arrested on theft and robbery charges.
At an interview afterward, Frickey’s affidavit said, Short denied the charges, saying he never keeps receipts and would have thrown it in the trash, where anyone could have picked it up.
He also said that a hitchhiker must have stolen a black stocking cap that police kept as evidence after it was knocked off when the robber and a bank client struggled during the April 24 holdup, the affidavit said.
Police told Short his DNA was on the cap.
A plea hearing is scheduled May 27.
Short was held without bail at the Deschutes County Jail. It could not be determined immediately Wednesday whether he has a lawyer.