Police arrest suspect in Monroe inner tube robbery

A man who police say robbed an armored car in Monroe and then used an inner tube to make his getaway has been arrested, according to Monroe police.

Monroe police, with the assistance of the FBI, arrested the man on a warrant Monday night in connection with the Brinks armored-car robbery that occurred outside a Bank of America branch on Sept. 30. Police said Anthony J. Curcio, 28, is suspected of having planned the robbery carefully, planting a "landscape worker" disguise behind a trash bin weeks earlier and posting a phony Craigslist employment ad to lure similarly dressed decoy workers to area on the day of the robbery.

During the heist, police said Curcio pepper-sprayed a Brinks armored-car guard, grabbed a bag of money and ran toward Woods Creek, police said. As he ran, the suspect dropped a pepper spray canister, a smaller bag of money, a hat, wig and sunglasses and a white particle mask.

Police later found an inner tube along the creek.

Police said they believe that the inner tube was used in the robbery, though they're not exactly sure how. Police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said the man is not talking.

She said police speculate that the man either floated downriver himself, or used it to carry the money, an undisclosed "significant" amount that would be heavy and hard to carry through brush.

Police traced the man when a citizen came forward and told them about finding a pile of clothes and a dust mask behind a trash bin near the bank about three weeks before the robbery. The concerned citizen reported the clothes to parks employees and took the license plate number of a man who later picked them up.

The state crime lab got a DNA sample from the dust mask the robber discarded as he ran and matched it with the DNA of the owner of the car seen near the trash bin, police said.

The Lake Stevens man was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on investigation of first-degree robbery.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com