Seattle Girl, 16, and Three Others Accused of Robbing Several Area Banks
Jennifer Sullivan and Mike Carter, Seattle Times, March 31, 2010
When Shennell Kennebrew’s father recognized his daughter’s image in a television news report on the prolific foul-mouthed bank robber dubbed the “F-Bomb Bandit,” he urged her to turn herself in, Seattle police said.
But he says the 16-year-old girl laughed at him.
Not long afterward, police, acting on tips from two other people who saw the same news report, arrested Kennebrew at her South Seattle home March 2. Police say she was dressed in a black North Face jacket identical to one worn by the suspect in a Feb. 16 bank robbery in Renton.
By the time Jamel Kennebrew arrived at Seattle police headquarters, his daughter was already being questioned in the string of bank robberies between Jan. 11 and Feb. 24. He told detectives he had confronted the girl only to be rebuffed, according to charging documents filed earlier this week in King County Superior Court.
Shennell Kennebrew and three others, including two other teens, now face charges in connection with four armed robberies in Seattle, Kent and Renton that police said netted just under $11,400.
Kennebrew blamed her actions on her love for her boyfriend, co-defendant Dasha Taylor, the charges allege. She told police that Taylor and his cousin asked her to rob banks, for which she was once rewarded with $25 and a new jacket, charging documents said.
Kennebrew; Taylor, 17, of Renton; and another girl, Jade Beers, 17, of Seattle; have all been charged as adults for their alleged roles in the robberies. The three teens and Keith Sims, a 40-year-old with an extensive state and federal criminal record, have each been charged with four counts of first-degree robbery.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Vince Lombardi III, who prosecuted Sims in the 2005 case, said the defendant “certainly has a long history of having young women commit his crimes while he lurks out in the parking lot.”
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King County prosecutors said Sims is a third-strike offender, who is facing life in prison if convicted on the new bank-robbery charges.
