HILLSBORO, Ore. (KOIN) — Josh Merritt and Jonathan Hodges had some banking to do on Monday. The men who didn’t know each other happened to be at the Wells Fargo on Northeast Butler Street in Hillsboro around 10:25 a.m. when they each decided to do something spontaneously.
They helped catch a bank robber, a 23-year-old man who may possibly be the so-called Froggy Robber responsible for a series of bank heists over the past few months.
Merritt, 44, lives in Buxton and sells nails for a living, had just worked out at a gym and went inside to do his banking. Hodges, 47, owns the Brookwood Auto Group dealership and had just made a cash deposit at the bank when a man in a hood walked in quickly as he was walking out.
Here, in their own words, are their stories about how they helped police capture Diego Sanchez-Lopez. Police said they recovered thousands of dollars when Sanchez-Lopez was taken into custody.
Josh Merritt
“I came to make a deposit and came in, just like a normal day at the bank, you know, at the teller window talking with the teller. Then out of the corner of my eye I see this guy jump up onto the counter and I was, like, this is not right. And I asked the teller, said, ‘We’re getting robbed right now aren’t we?’ And then you hear the guy, ‘Give me your money, blankedly blank blank!’…
“(The robber is now behind the counter) … “So the guy makes his way down the different windows, getting the money and he gets to ours and I see that he’s got, just this knife with a blade about yea-long, and you know he’s got it in his hand and I’m like, that’s it? That’s all you got is a little knife?’…
“…He’s just, ‘Give me your money, give me your money, blankedly blank blank,’ and they’re like, ‘Hey, I am, I’m giving it all to you as fast as I can…
“…It went from calm to the heart starts beating really, really, really fast and I’m like, ‘This is just not right.’ He jumps back onto the counter, jumps over” and then ran out. (Merritt said it looked like he put the knife in his pocket).
“I’m like, alright, he just disarmed himself, he put the knife in his pocket, and so I ran to the door and I didn’t know if he was getting away in a car. And I get to the door and I kind of look around and I see him take off, down towards the strip mall there. So I just, I was already in my workout clothes, I was all warmed up, I’d been to the gym.
“I thought, let’s get it on! So I took off after him. …
“I was on the other side of the median and he looked at me and I was like, dude, I’m going to form tackle this guy, and he just took off into the apartment complex and I just kept running and he just looked back, like, ‘What’s this big guy doing still chasing me?’
“…I lost him for a bit… I was like, ‘Hey, did you see a guy run through here?’ and (a woman in the apartment complex) said, ‘Yeah, some guy just ran that way.’ I said, ‘Get back in your apartment. He just robbed a bank. He’s armed and dangerous,’ and I took off that way.
“And I went around the corner and saw what turned out to be the other guy that was also chasing him in his car. And I went around the corner and there he was and the police had him wrapped up on the corner.”
Jonathan Hodges
“I was walking out and saw this guy come in with a hood on and kind of swiftly, so I turned around and the next thing you know he hopped up onto the counter and jumped over the other side and had this bag out and was demanding money. So my first reaction is toleave, you know, there was no one holding me back. So I went out the door and got into my car and called 911. Then my plan was to follow him to see what I could help with the police.
(The robber came out and Josh Merrit was chasing after him.)
“I see them running toward Cornell,” and he followed in his minivan to an apartment complex.
“I’m watching it inbetween apartments. The next thing you know the robber was now by himself. I’m on the phone with 911 saying, ‘He’s right here! I could tackle him! I can get him right now!’ and they’re like, ‘No! No! No!’
(He followed in his car and didn’t realize someone was following him. The robber was alone was waving his hands.)
“He was trying to get attention to somebody … He’s about to cross the street (on the other side of the apartment complex) So he steps out there and he notices there’s a police car already there, so then he starts reversing back.
“And that’s when I jumped out of my car. Not very smart. Jumped out of my care and went up to him as he’s reversing and I grabbed onto him and pushed him out to where the police were. And I’m like, ‘He’s right here! Here he is!’ And then they screeched up and one police officer went with me and the other police officer went around and then we cornered him in a hallway. The guns out…
“…There was no resisting. He was caught and tired. And, uh, there you go.”
Froggy Robber
Hodges said the bank later called him.
“Said, ‘Did you know this is the Froggy Robber, supposedly this notorious bank robber?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve never heard of him.’
“I’ve looked at pictures online and, yeah, it’s definitely him. I mean, I’m not going to say 100% because I’m not a detective or whatever or FBI, but watching videos of him jumping up on the counter, how he did it, did it with the knife, all that, and then the pictures and then seeing him in person, yeah, there’s no doubt in my mind.”
What the FBI says
Beth Anne Steele with the FBI in Portland told KOIN 6 News, “We always look to see if current robbers are good for serial cases.” But she would not say any more.
Previously, the FBI described the Froggy Robber suspect as an Hispanic man who’s 20-40 years old, between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5, 160 pounds, wearing blue pants, blue hoodie and black shoes, considered armed and dangerous.
The FBI also said the Froggy Robber is now wanted in connection to 5 earlier bank robberies.
There is a $30,000 reward for the Froggy Robber’s arrest and conviction. The Oregon Financial Institutions Security Task Force, the FBI and Wells Fargo each put up $10,000.
Four of the robberies the Froggy Robber was suspected in are:
Columbia Bank — located at 1455 SE 1st Ave. in Canby — on Oct. 19, 2017
Albina Community Bank — 2002 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Portland — on Nov. 2, 2017
Well Fargo Bank — located at 8699 SW Main St. in Wilsonville — on Dec. 27, 2017
Wells Fargo Bank — located at 6785 Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy in Beaverton — on Jan. 11, 2018
The Monday suspect
Diego Sanchez-Lopez made his first court appearance on Tuesday for a 1st-degree robbery charge related to the Wells Fargo bank robbery in Hillsboro.
