Bank Robber on to Trial

Raymond Davenport, 52, is headed toward trial after Judge Frank Ochoa found there was sufficient evidence against him during a preliminary hearing on July 18 and 19. He is suspected of robbing Santa Barbara Bank & Trust on Hollister Avenue in May, and several other banks in the Bay Area as well. Detectives Pecorari, Vasquez, Schmidt, Maxwell, and Minter, all from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, testified on the events surrounding the bank robbery and Davenport’s arrest.

According to testimony, the detectives created a picture lineup with six individuals on it, including Davenport. Several of the people in the bank during the robbery, including the victim teller, picked out Davenport as the culprit. The defense raised questions about the photo lineup not meeting the department’s protocols, but according to the detectives’ testimonies, Davenport’s wife, Lisa Davenport, and his parole officer also confirmed that the bank robber in the still photos from Bank & Trust’s surveillance cameras appeared to be Davenport.

Detective Maxwell and Pecorari’s interview with Lisa Davenport seemed to have some of the most relevant material to potentially linking Raymond Davenport to the case. During Pecorari’s testimony, he claimed that when he asked the suspect’s wife about how much money she had received recently from Davenport, she said, “Oh, I know what this is about.” She had reportedly just received around $3,000 from him. Pecorari also recalled, “I asked her, ‘Do you have an idea why your husband was arrested?’” She allegedly responded, “He probably robbed a bank.” In their talk with her, she also revealed that when she typed in the word “bank” in the Google search bar on their shared computer, the computer brought up a series of old search queries from its history, some of which were “how to” questions about robbing banks.

Davenport’s next day in court is August 1.