Friday, August 10, 2001
Police: Air controller became criminal
President of the union local has held up 9 banks, investigators say
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Faced with mounting debts and child support payments, an air traffic controller and outspoken union local president turned to bank robbery, he told detectives after his arrest last week.
Investigators said they believe Rick Lee Davis, a controller at San Francisco International Airport, has held up nine banks since October.
Most of the holdups occurred in Fremont, Newark and Union City, where detectives dubbed the bandit the "Robust Robber" because of his stout, burly build. The robber never showed a weapon but donned a floppy hat and sunglasses and handed tellers a computer-generated note that read: "Please be very quiet, empty both drawers, place all money on the counter. I don't want to hurt anyone."
Davis, who was arrested Aug. 3 when an off-duty police detective witnessed a holdup in Concord, is expected to appear this morning in Oakland federal court. He has been in custody since his arrest.
The case has detectives scratching their heads.
"This is the most unusual case I think I've ever seen," said Concord police Detective Mike Finney.
Davis has no criminal record.
"Your typical bank robber is someone who is desperate, who is a substance abuser, an alcoholic, jobless ... this flies in the face of the traditional profile of a bank robber," said FBI Special Agent Andy Black. "This is a very unusual circumstance that someone in his position would do this."
Authorities estimated that the nine robberies netted about $60,000.
Davis, a 43-year-old divorced father and president of the San Francisco Control Tower local of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, brings in about $80,000 a year as a controller. He pays $2,000 a month for an apartment on Treasure Island and drives a 2000 Toyota.
He told detectives he robbed banks to help pay child support, alimony and mortgages and to fly his two children back and forth from Hawaii to visit him. He also said he wanted to maintain his lifestyle.
"He didn't want anyone to know he couldn't afford that," Finney said.
Court records show Davis filed for bankruptcy in June 1999. The string of robberies began about 18 months later.
"He definitely took the big jump there," Finney said. "This is a guy who took a dive off the deep end."
If not for off-duty Concord police Detective David Espinosa, who just happened to be doing some banking last Friday at the Sunvalley mall Bank of America branch, police doubt they would have ever connected the holdups to Davis.
"Even if he had left fingerprints, there is no prior criminal record so there is nothing to check," Finney said "And even if we had a good picture on the bank's video camera, nobody who knows him would have believed it was him. They would have said, 'That's funny, it looks like so-and-so, but of course it's not him.'"
Davis told a friend about his arrest, but she didn't believe it and called Finney. The detective had to convince her he was really a police officer and that the arrest was no joke.
A neighbor at the Treasure Island complex where Davis lives said he had noticed FBI agents at Davis' residence, but he was surprised to learn about the arrest.
"Certainly that's the last thing I assumed," said the neighbor, who did not want his name used. "That's about the strangest thing I ever heard."
Davis has been prominent as president of the union local. A week before his arrest, he was in the media speaking out about the local's support of the San Francisco airport's expansion.
A fellow union member, Mark Sherry, called the arrest "very shocking."
He said Davis is a good guy, good worker and a "nice gentleman."
"It is surprising to us," Sherry said. "But there are 15,000 controllers across the country, and every once in a while one does something out of the ordinary. He has had his personal problems, but he is a great guy."
For now, Davis will retain his union position.
"We don't try to make rash judgments," Sherry said. "We'll talk to Rick when he gets out. He has more important things to do right now."
According to Jerry Snyder, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation
Administration, Davis began working as an air traffic controller on Maui in 1986. In July 1988, he began working at the San Francisco airport. If Davis is convicted of bank robbery, his certification allowing him to work for the FAA will be pulled, Snyder said.
In San Francisco, air traffic controllers make an average annual salary of $80,000 to $100,000, he said.