Nicholas Theodore York's to-do list Tuesday began with catching a lift from a Jackson County mental health caseworker sent to help him check out of one budget motel and into another, Medford police said.
The caseworker became an unwitting getaway driver, police said, when York sandwiched a lunchtime bank robbery into his errands.
York, 35, was arrested at his new motel where the case worker dropped him off. In the room, police said, was enough stolen cash to fill a gallon-size freezer bag.
Court records show York has made a long, meandering journey across the state over the years.
He showed up in the Medford office of
on Friday and registered for services.
On Tuesday, said
Lt. Mike Budreau, York asked his new county caseworker to help him move from the Cascade Inn Motel, where he had just been kicked out.
The caseworker, whom police declined to identify, was behind the wheel of a 2007 Chevy Impala with government plates and a Jackson County emblem on the door. He helped York check into the Cedar Lodge Inn three blocks away at 10:45 a.m.
The pair drove next to West Jackson Street, where York shopped for clothing at a secondhand store near the Medford Gospel Mission while the caseworker waited in the car.
The caseworker then dropped York at the mental health offices for an hour while the caseworker ran his own errands. When he picked up York again around 1 p.m., York asked for a lift to a Chase bank branch along Crater Lake Highway, three miles to the north.
"He told him he needed to withdraw money," Budreau said.
While the caseworker sat in the car, York waited in line for a teller. But York, who is about 6 feet tall, weighs about 230 and was wearing a red bandana, grew impatient, Budreau said. York asked whether there was only one teller.
A bank employee offered to open another window.
That's when York became aggressive and erratic, Budreau said. He did not show a weapon, but when he demanded money, the bank employee emptied the till of cash, which York stuffed into his pockets, police said.
Then York strode outside to the waiting Impala.
Two witnesses watched the county vehicle slowly navigate out of the parking lot. Faced with their curious stares, the caseworker behind the wheel cheerfully waved back.
"It didn't really add up to a getaway driver," Budreau said. "We certainly believe the case worker was not aware that the subject was inside robbing the bank. He thought it was unusual that people were looking at them as they drove off."
Stacy Brubaker, division manager at Jackson County mental health, could not be reached for comment.
Next stop: the Greyhound bus station in downtown Medford, where York told his caseworker he planned to buy a $32 ticket to Eugene, departing 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The caseworker agreed to give him a lift to the station.
But shortly after the county worker dropped York at the Cedar Lodge Inn, police pounded on the door.
Witnesses outside the bank had given police the license plate number on the caseworker's county car, which investigators traced to the mental health agency. Police said they found the loot from the bank robbery on the bed in York's motel room and a baggie of methamphetamine in his wallet.
York is facing a
, old and new.
On Saturday night, police in Medford found him intoxicated downtown and took him to a local detox facility. They soon discovered York was wanted on outstanding warrants in Linn County,where he is accused of failure to appear in court on charges of driving under the influence, car theft and reckless endangerment. The authorities in Medford released him on his own recognizance.
On Monday, Clackamas County issued a nationwide, full extradition warrant for York on accusations of trespass and felony marijuana possession, said Medford Police Chief Tim George. The warrant showed up when York was arrested Tuesday.
York has convictions dating to 1996 for misdemeanor assault, felony unauthorized use of a vehicle, felony eluding police and felony possession of ecstasy. Last month, Clackamas County Circuit Court issued a restraining order against him.
York suffers from mental health problems, said Budreau, "but he's not so mentally disabled that he can't function on his own."
York now sits in the Jackson County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson
News researcher Lynne Palombo assisted with this report.