Three robbery suspects identified as Vancouver residents

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has identified the people arrested Thursday on suspicion of robbing a Salmon Creek Credit Union then fleeing in a taxi as three Vancouver residents.

Esmerelda Cerdon Velazquez, 23, Lonnie Bearcub Barnard, 22, and Frank James Barnard, 40, all face a charge of first-degree robbery.

The three are accused of being involved in a robbery at iQ Credit Union , 13505 N.E. 10th Ave., that was reported at 2:26 p.m.

Two people entered the branch, gave a note to the teller and demanded cash, said Sgt. Fred Neiman, spokesman for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. They got an undisclosed amount of cash then fled, when witnesses said they saw the suspects get into a black and white taxi van parked in the nearby Fred Meyer parking lot.

The taxi van got onto I-5 south, where agents with the Washington State Liquor Control Board spotted it. The agents followed the taxi until they were joined by sheriff’s deputies and Washington State Patrol troopers.

After stopping the vehicle near the 78th Street, three suspects were arrested. The sheriff’s office have not said how the third person was involved in the alleged robbery.

The taxi driver was not believed to be involved in the robbery, Neiman said.