Bank heist suspect looks for love from behind bars

Bank heist suspect Christian Shorey is looking for potential romantic partners via Craigslist.

He likes camping, hiking and fishing. He finds beauty mostly in a woman’s personality. And he wants to fall in love with the right girl.

Fit and tattooed, his photos show that he looks good without a shirt.

There’s just one wrinkle; Christian Shorey is wearing orange these days. He’s a burglary and bank robbery suspect serving time in Island County jail.

Anyone browsing the personals on Craiglist in recent days may have come across Shorey’s posting. He’s up front about his predicament, but asks interested women to send letters and photos to the jail.

If their photos are returned, he suggests the senders forward them to a state prison, in which he may be living for a spell.

Though he’s currently in the clink, Shorey’s search for a heart to steal is not taxpayer funded.

Inmates in the county jail don’t have access to Craigslist or even the Internet, according to Detective Ed Wallace with the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Wallace said someone else must have posted the information for Shorey.

Shorey, 35, made headlines on Whidbey Island last year after Island County Sheriff Mark Brown named him as “a person of interest” in the robbery last September of Wells Fargo Bank in Clinton.

At least four members of Shorey’s immediate family told detectives they believed it was his voice they heard on a recording of a phony 9-1-1 call that preceded the bank heist, according to the South Whidbey Record.

The call is believed to have been intended as a diversionary tactic to lure deputies away from Clinton.

The bank robber wore a black mask, gloves and a camouflaged jacket over a black hooded sweatshirt. Brandishing a black semi-automatic handgun, the robber approached a teller and demanded cash and the keys to an employee’s vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.

Shorey was arrested in Forks in October after allegedly burglarizing a bar there. He was then transferred to Island County, where he is charged with two counts of burglary in the second degree; he’s accused of breaking into the Bayview Valero gas station twice last October.

Surveillance video in both instances showed a masked man stealing cigarettes, lottery tickets and other items.

Tattoos on the masked burglar allegedly matched Shorey’s, according to a deputy’s report.

No charges are filed in the bank robbery case yet.