Fleeing Suspects Held In $2 Robbery Two Men Pull Gun On Police After Robbery Of Bonner County Couple, Officers Say
Two gunmen tied up a Bonner County couple, ransacked their home and led police on a high-speed chase Friday morning in a bungled robbery that netted the men $2 and a jail cell.
Robert A. Huffman, 30, and Ricky L. Mueller, 20, both of Spokane, were arrested about 20 minutes after the robbery. They are being held in the Bonner County Jail on kidnapping and armed robbery charges.
The men, driving at speeds in excess of 80 mph, tried to run officers off the road and pointed a gun at them, police said. They tossed two handguns out of the car and surrendered after officers trapped them on a dead-end road south of Sandpoint.
The suspects are lucky they didn’t hurt anyone, said authorities and James and Virginia Woods, the couple who were robbed at gunpoint.
“It was kind of comical in some ways afterward,” said Virginia Woods, explaining the robbers asked for duct tape to tie up the couple and unplugged the phone instead of ripping the cord out of the wall.
Woods had her hands bound with masking tape she gave the men. Her husband finished eating his breakfast and poured himself coffee, she said, before the gunmen tied him to a chair with an extension cord.
“They were very amateur as far as tying us up. My 5-year-old grandson could do better than that,” Virginia Woods said, admitting she was still scared by the men.
“The worst part was when they put paper bags over our heads. I thought that was it for us. But then they left.”
According to police, the suspects pretended to have car trouble. They went to the Woods’ home north of Sandpoint about 7 a.m. Friday and asked to use the telephone. Once inside, they pulled guns and told Jim Wood to open the safe.
The Woods own Woods Meat Processing, and their home was burglarized about a month ago. Authorities believe these are the same men who ransacked the home earlier because they knew there was a safe inside.
“I went to the other room to open the safe,” Virginia Woods said. “I was having a horrible time with it because I was nervous.” She opened the safe, but there was no money inside.
“One of the men said: ‘I can’t believe it. All of this for nothing.”’
The suspects looked for money in the house but found only $2 in Virginia Woods’ purse and a check made to them for $2,500.
The suspects decided to tie up the couple and leave. They tried using some twine found in the couple’s garage, but it was old and kept breaking. The men finally found an extension cord, a scarf from the closet and masking tape Virginia Woods gave them.
Before being tied up, James Woods got a look at the suspects’ car, a Toyota Tercel with “SR5” in large letters on the side. He called police with the description after wriggling out of the cord. Within minutes, a Sandpoint police officer saw the vehicle.
“Mr. Magoo could have spotted this car,” said Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson.
The men refused to stop for a police officer and sheriff’s deputy. Authorities chased the car through Sandpoint, south on Highway 95 and then to Dufort Road. The car slowed and a woman inside, Renee Akers, also of Spokane, was let out. She was arrested but no charges were filed against her. She was released late Friday.
After dropping Akers, the two men tried to run a patrol car off the road. Huffman also held up his gun and pointed it at police after stopping on a dead-end road. After deputies surrounded the car and an officer loaded his shotgun, the men tossed their guns out the car window and surrendered.
Huffman is being held on $400,000 bond and was also charged with assaulting and eluding and officer. Mueller’s bond was set at $100,000.
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