GPS leads police to loot from bank robbery

Thanks to some quick-thinking bank employees, robber Thomas Fricks was quickly apprehended following a robbery Thursday at the Washington Trust Bank in Spokane. He had herded three employees into the bank vault and threatened to kill their families if they didn't cooperate, asking for $40,000 in "no bait bills." One employee, on the phone with her husband, told him to call the police while another employee stuffed both the money and a GPS device into the duffel bag, enabling the police to track down the getaway minivan within minutes. The best part was the dude's response when the fuzz caught up with him: "You guys are good!"

[JBaxt @ Jan 8th 2006 12:53PM]

Serves him rite for taking money. However if he was going to buy an intel apple with that money. He deserved it

[Greg Overland @ Jan 8th 2006 1:06PM]

Exactly how would that work unless the GPS device had line of sight? Maybe it was a clear duffel bag?

[Anand Patel @ Jan 8th 2006 1:10PM]

And how exactly can anyone track a GPS device?... They don't actually send out any information.

[Paulo @ Jan 8th 2006 1:14PM]

My thoughs exactly...



A plastic duffel bag hauled on the back of a pick up....Come on....



I bet they tracked a cell phone.

[NeoteriX @ Jan 8th 2006 2:06PM]

Maybe it was Lojack. :)

[ET @ Jan 8th 2006 2:10PM]

#2,



There is a new GPS chipset called SiRF III that makes the receiver so sensitive, you no longer need a direct view of the sky to receive a strong signal. You can walk around town with the receiver in your pocket, and still receive a signal (Treo 650/Tom Tom/Bluetooth SiRF GPS receiver for example).



http://www.sirf.com/products-ss3.html

[billy holiday @ Jan 8th 2006 2:16PM]

...hmm, wait a minute. I got to thinking about this, and it isn't really possible. I wonder how the GPS unit transmitted data back to the bank employee/police? If it was a bluetooth receiver, the range is only 30 feet.....



Sounds urban-legendy to me.

[Terry @ Jan 8th 2006 2:34PM]

Maybe that cat called 911 again and told the police where they were.

[Jayne Fricks Marsh @ Jan 8th 2006 2:38PM]

The robber just happens to be my brother's son and I am really upset that this happened. I do know that Tom had been under tremendous financial burdens and that he had to have snapped to do this sort of thing. For those people who see everything in a "negative" view, please just remember that you never know what your kinfolk may do--as for that matter, you never know what you may do under stress and strain. People in high places are accused of robbery in a "sophiscated" manner. They get by with it because they can afford high-dollar lawyers to "get them out of their siturations!" Stress can cause people to do outrageous things when their brains cannot function properly. I know that Tom would never actually "hurt" another person. If he had meant harm, he would have used a real gun with real ammunition!



So, you people who have "negative" comments, please think of yourself as well as your family members and friends and how they would react under pressure!



Tom's Aunt Jayne

[BobbyW @ Jan 8th 2006 2:59PM]

This is a terrible story. The link points to an Associated Press story. Editors at the AP shouldn't be printing stories like this that don't make sense. It feeds the publics general ignorance about things like GPS.

[Val Fitzgerald @ Jan 8th 2006 3:00PM]

Line-of-sight's not an issue, any more. An outfit called Digital Angel makes GPS chips that are regularly implanted in nursing home early-Alzheimer victims, to find them when they wander off the property. Another company makes a chip to implant in valuable animals so they don't get abducted; think show-dogs, prize cattle, prize horses.



About the only creature who hasn't been chipped yet, is our own children. Oh no--not MY kid, goes the mantra. Well...yeah, if it happens to your kid (I reply) I guess you can always make another...

[Tim @ Jan 8th 2006 3:09PM]

whoa, i live in spokane and never heard about this...

[Tim @ Jan 8th 2006 3:20PM]

ok, nevermind i just read the article in a local newspaper. apparently this tracking device is a new tool used by the police dept. and it tracks the location on a map using cellphone towers, not satellites. That info is then sent to the police who are able to track him down.

[FrankieV @ Jan 8th 2006 3:22PM]

I don't get it. a GPS is a receiver. Great if the robbers want to know where they are, but useless for tracking.



Unless this is one of those devices with bluetooth built in. Then when you are within 100m of the GPS you can find out the exact location.

[Ben @ Jan 8th 2006 5:24PM]

Haha, who confuses a BB gun with a real one yet thinks to put a tracking device in with the cash.



Tim, that cellphone tower tracking technology is nothing new and has been available for public use for ages.

[Carly @ Jan 8th 2006 6:01PM]

Maybe they were using a service like Mologogo which is java software uploaded to a GPS enabled cell phone-- basically, the GPS finds the location, and the cell phone uploads out your data co-ordinates to the Mologogo server, enabling you to track whatever or whoever has the cell phone.

[Dr. NO @ Jan 9th 2006 12:19AM]

It'd be nice if people would read the posts before they commented...



And even if you are in dire straits, "robbing" is called that for a reason. I'm sorry your family has to deal with this.

[Crazyjamaican46 @ Jan 9th 2006 12:58AM]

Yall are sortta retarded for gadget freaks. J/k i luv evryone who is smart enough to browse to engadget but u just nees to look up GPS dog collars or tracking devices. THey all contain very sensitive gps(some include hybrid gps/cell phone tower triangulation) and a cell phone pagerf liek device that transmits the current coordinates back to a mother device( a server, pager, or another cellphone) Im not sure if that is what happend in this case or if this was just another instance of poor journalism from the AP

[UHF @ Jan 9th 2006 4:55AM]

'The robber just happens to be my brother's son...'



Your nephew, as they say.



'I know that Tom would never actually "hurt" another person.'



No, just shove guns in their faces and threaten to kill their families. It's a bit difficult to see this in any other light than negative really. Kudos to you for posting on Engadget though.



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On another note, this post is misleading. Engadget have shown a picture of an Emtac BT GPS. The story doesn't specifically mention what device was used. I would hazard a guess that a purpose made GPS with cell phone transmitter, intended to track money taken in robberies was used?

[ryan @ Jan 9th 2006 3:28PM]

It could have also been a nextel phone which when enabled can be webtracked, truly midsleading that engadget posted the Emtrac BT receiver. Mainly because I want a tracker that small that isn't one of those watches that has to have direct line of site.

[Ex-Navy Tech @ Feb 3rd 2006 2:52PM]

New GPS technology such as the SIRF III GPS chip, built into a cellphone (G3, CDMA, etc)needs only a slight signal from 3 orbiting GPS satellites to get a fix on the location of the cellphone. In some instances the chip only needs 1 second to determine it's latitude and longnitude to report the position via the cellphone system. Very similiar to AVL or Lojack but much much more sensitive!!! Excellent Job!!