Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.
The fugitive who escaped from a northern Nevada prison last month now is suspected to have committed two "polite" armed robberies and one home invasion in Southern Nevada while on the lam.
Kenneth "Jody" Thompson, 25, allegedly robbed a bar on West Sahara Avenue about 11 p.m. Sunday night and the Blue Diamond Saloon in the 6900 block of Blue Diamond Road on Sept. 1 at around 9:30 a.m., said Metro Sgt. Chris Tomaino of the robbery detail.
Police refused to say what bar on West Sahara was robbed or even the block number.
Steve Green, the general manager of the Blue Diamond Saloon, said he was conducting his monthly inventory of Blue Diamond Saloon's liquor supply on Sept. 1 when an "exceedingly polite" gunman held up the establishment.
Yet Green, while admitting that the incident was unsettling, described the man as a soft-spoken robber who professed a distaste for what he was doing.
"If you're going to get robbed, this guy is as good as any," Green said. "He never raised his voice the entire time he was here."
Green said no one was hurt when his bar was robbed. There were only three people inside the bar -- himself, a female bartender and a 73-year-old female cook -- when the gunman walked into the bar wearing a motorcycle helmet, Green said.
The man pulled out a gun and told the employees that he was going to rob the establishment, he said. He rounded up the staff and forced them to sit at a table, Green said.
The tavern owner said the robber "seemed calm and collected" and told the group that he would put the gun away if they agreed to cooperate.
"He never threatened anyone," Green said.
The man was courteous even when Green refused to hand over the surveillance tapes of the bar because they were kept on a digital system.
"He said, 'Dude, don't worry about it. I'm not going to trash your stuff,'th" Green said.
Green said the robber said, "I really don't like doing this."
The 73-year-old cook replied, "apparently you do," and the gunman didn't respond, Green said.
When the robber was leaving the bar, he grabbed Green's cell phone and the phone from the bar but assured the staff that he was going to leave them in the parking lot.
As he was leaving, the robber said, "Give me 30 seconds. They may catch me some day, but not today," Green said.
Police said Thompson also allegedly broke into a home near Desert Inn Drive and El Capitan Way on Sept. 2 while he was running from Metro and other law enforcement agencies.
The baby-faced Thompson allegedly stole a vehicle owned by the couple who lived at the house and escaped capture from the police, he said.
Thompson escaped from the Northern Nevada Correctional Facility on Aug. 26. Police are offering a $6,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Thompson was serving 10-50 years for robbery, grand larceny and use of a deadly weapon.
No victims were injured in any of the robberies, Tomaino said. Police would not say how much money Thompson allegedly took from the bars.
Thompson was also suspected of robbing a bar in Pahrump, the Eve 'N Keel, on Wednesday morning at 1:45 p.m., but Metro said those reports were incorrect.
Tomaino said the method of the robbery was different than that of previous holdups in which Thompson was suspected. Primarily, the suspect in that robbery beat a female bartender, and Thompson was known as an "exceedingly polite," nonviolent robber, he said.
"As nonviolent as someone waving a gun in face can be," Tomaino said.
Wendy Eve, who owns Eve 'N Keel with her husband, confirmed that the bar was robbed. The couple has owned the bar for 1 1/2 years, and it was the first robbery of the establishment in that time, she said.
Eve did not know Thompson and was not aware he is a fugitive. She said the suspect who robbed the Eve 'N Keel hit the bartender with his gun several times, but the bartender did not require hospitalization.
The bar has security cameras, but Eve declined to discuss whether police have viewed the surveillance tapes. She also declined to comment on the amount of money stolen from the bar.
Before Thompson was apprehended and sent to prison, he was known as the "cancer bandit" because he allegedly told robbery victims that he was stealing the money because he was caring for a child sick with cancer, Tomaino said.
Police later discovered that Thompson had no sick child, he said.
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