A man wanted in connection with two Lake Tahoe bank robberies was apprehended in Reno, Nevada.
Detectives from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, North Lake Tahoe station, with assistance from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, arrested James Patrick Harnett, 49, of San Francisco at 5 p.m. on Monday, at the Reno Transit Center on E. 4th Street. Harnett was considered armed and dangerous, as well as a flight risk.
Placer County Sheriff’s detectives received information that the suspected bank robber was in the downtown Reno area and a warrant for his arrest had been issued. A Washoe County Sheriff’s detective initially contacted the suspect while he was attempting to make a call from a payphone inside the transit center. The suspect was taken into custody without incident or injury to the officers or the surrounding public.
Harnett is suspected of robbing the Bank of the West in Kings Beach on August 23, 2013, as well as robbing the Eldorado Savings Bank two days earlier in South Lake Tahoe. Harnett is currently in custody at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Main Jail in Reno, awaiting extradition to Placer County on a $100,000 arrest warrant.Â
