SALEM, Ore. — Salem police have arrested a man suspected of committing a string of three armed bank robberies late last month. Jason Lee Welty, 50, was arrested without incident Tuesday evening when a Salem Police Department SWAT team served a search warrant at a house in Southeast Salem.
Police said Welty is the primary suspect in the three robberies, all of which took place in the afternoon and involved a single male suspect who showed a handgun, demanded money from bank tellers and then left with cash. No bank employees were injured in any of the incidents, according to an SPD news release.
The first robbery happened on May 21 at the Valley Credit Union in Southeast Salem, relatively close to where Welty was later arrested. The second occurred on May 23 at a Chase Bank branch in Salem's South Gateway neighborhood, about three miles south of the first incident.
The third robbery took place on May 31 at the Northwest Community Credit Union in Albany, which Salem police said was subsequently determined to be connected to the two Salem robberies.
Welty was booked in Marion County jail on three counts of second-degree robbery, three counts of first-degree theft and three counts of menacing. He will face additional charges from the Albany Police Department, according to the news release. Albany police and the FBI Portland Field Office assisted in the case, SPD said.
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