Vancouver man who robbed Columbia Credit Union branch sentenced

A Vancouver man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for robbing the Columbia Credit Union branch in Vancouver’s Bagley Downs neighborhood while claiming he was armed.

Derek A. Troxler, 26, pleaded guilty Friday in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree robbery. Judge Jennifer Snider ordered the agreed-upon 57 month sentence.

Vancouver police responded at 2:07 p.m. on Oct. 18 to the credit union at 3003 N.E. 62nd Ave. Surveillance video showed a man, later identified as Troxler, enter the branch, hand a note to a teller demanding money and leave with cash, according to a probable cause affidavit. The note he gave the teller said he would shoot her if she did not comply. He left with $843, court records state.

Troxler apologized to the teller during Friday’s hearing and said she didn’t deserve the fear he had caused her.

“Like the prosecutor said, she’s a human being,” he said. “She’s not a bank or an ATM machine. She has feelings. I read through the discovery, and it seemed that I really scared her, and I would like to apologize to her for that.”

Officers canvassed the area and gathered information about the robber and the route he took into an apartment complex after leaving the branch, a police statement said.

Troxler was contacted at the complex and came out of an apartment without incident, according to the statement. It said officers recovered a black Sig Sauer P365 look-alike pellet/air gun and other evidence inside the apartment.

According to court records, Troxler told police his brother had threatened him and that he robbed the credit union in order to pay him off.