OREGON BANK ROBBER SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON
Judge finds Defendant Qualifies as Career Offender
STEVEN DARRELL DIAMOND, 46, of Beaverton, Oregon was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to twelve years in prison and three years of supervised release for Bank Robbery. U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess also found that DIAMOND is a career offender who deserved a more lengthy sentence because of his two prior violent felony convictions. DIAMOND was convicted in 1994, of Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Federal Marshal and in 1999, he was convicted of Bank Robbery. DIAMOND pleaded guilty to Bank Robbery May 25, 2007.
According to documents filed in the case, on January 29, 2007, DIAMOND walked into the Key Bank branch in Vancouver, Washington. DIAMOND handed the teller a note claiming he had a gun and demanding cash. DIAMOND was wearing a black stocking cap pulled low and black sunglasses. The teller put some $2,500 and a dye pack in a plastic bag DIAMOND handed her. He left the bank and an employee saw him drive off in a small red car without any license plates. The next day DIAMOND was arrested following a traffic stop. He was driving a small red car that had one Oregon license plate attached loosely on the back bumper. In his wallet were bills that appeared to be stained by red dye, and one that appeared to have been “cleaned” of dye, turning it blue. At DIAMOND’s hotel room, police found more stained money and some chemicals that had been used to try to wash the dye off the money.
DIAMOND remains a suspect in five bank robberies in Oregon.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Portland Police Department, and the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisca Borichewski.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.
