Ex-Henrico officer accused in Oregon bank robbery

A former Henrico County police officer who pleaded guilty in 2006 to stealing marijuana from the evidence room has been arrested and charged with holding up a bank in Bend, Ore., a television station there is reporting on its Web site.

Charles Harpster, 54, who was on the Henrico force for 30 years, was arrested with his wife, Tammi Truschke, Tuesday night after the robbery of the Bend Bank of Cascades, KTVZ reported.

Police arrested the couple at a tavern in nearby La Pine, where they had allegedly used the stolen money to win $700 at video poker while ordering beer and cheesesteaks, the station reported. Bail for the two was set at $500,000, KTVZ reported.

In Henrico in 2006, Harpster and his wife pleaded guilty to distributing less than an ounce of marijuana. Both received 12-month suspended sentences and were fined $100. They were originally charged with felony drug distribution, but the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.

Harpster also agreed to surrender his law enforcement credential and not to serve as a police officer for at least 10 years, the prosecutor said. Harpster and his wife had spent about two weeks in jail before being released on bond.

Henrico Police Chief Henry W. Stanley Jr. said in 2006 that the drugs were stolen from the Henrico evidence room at about the same time that Harpster, a narcotics investigator, was making final his retirement plans.