FBI 'saw bank robbers steal my truck'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The owner of the SUV used by Kristopher Cheyne and Derryl LaFave in a deadly bank robbery said an FBI agent told him the suspects were under surveillance when it was stolen the day before.
 
"He said that the guys were being watched when my truck was stolen," said the Barry County owner of the black-and-silver Chevrolet Blazer. "Meaning they watched them steal my truck, and then the next day it was used in an armed robbery."
 
The man, who did not want to be identified, said he believes the FBI could have arrested Cheyne and LaFave before the Oct. 13, 2011, robbery at the ChoiceOne Bank in Ravenna.
 
That robbery led to a chase that ended with the deaths of Walker Police Officer Trevor Slot and the two suspects.

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Interactive Timeline: 34 minutes til death -- The Cheyne-LaFave bank robbery

A compilation of dashcam photos from different cars

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"I don't understand why they didn't stop them before it," he said. "They had plenty of time to. These two guys were already known criminals and that's why they were being under surveillance.
 
"My personal opinion is that's what they were letting them do, rob the bank and try to get 'em afterwards, get them both, and they went too far."
 
FBI officials denied they witnessed the theft and said they knew nothing about the stolen Blazer until after the robbery.
 
Police reports obtained by Target 8 through the Freedom of Information Act show the 1995 Blazer was stolen on Oct. 12, 2011, the day before the robbery.
 
It was an easy mark, parked next to the DeltaPlex in Walker , where the owner was working. He said he'd left the keys on the console.  He immediately reported it stolen after making the discovery during the lunch hour, he said.
 
"I blame myself for leaving my keys in there," he said. "If I wouldn't have, it might have never happened."
 
He said he got his Blazer back not long after the robbery and met with an FBI agent.
 
The agent, he said, had no doubt who had stolen the Blazer -- Cheyne and LaFave -- because, the agent told him, they had the two under surveillance that day.
 
"If the FBI would have done their job correctly that at this point in time Trevor Slot would still be alive."
 
FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet said agents were not conducting  "physical surveillance" the day the vehicle was stolen. The local head of the FBI has said agents didn't know about the stolen Blazer until after the robbery.
 
The FBI were tracking Cheyne and LaFave through GPS , according to police reports, after developing the convicted felons as suspects in two bank robberies.
 
Stealing a car was part of their usual game plan.
 
Police reports obtained by Target 8 show a Muskegon County detective asked the FBI if somebody else could have stolen the Blazer and provided it to the suspects.
 
But, the report shows, the FBI agent assured him otherwise.
 
"They had the robbery suspects under loose surveillance on the day the vehicle was stolen and are confident that they were the ones that had taken the vehicle," the Muskegon detective wrote.
 
Nearly 24 hours went by between the theft of the Blazer and the robbery. The Blazer owner told Target 8 investigators the FBI's confidence seems to show they were aware of the theft.

"They're contradicting themselves with 'loose surveillance,'" the Blazer owner said. "Either they're watching them or they're not. There's no 'loose surveillance' and saying positively they were the only two."
 
Moments after the robbery, the two ditched the stolen Blazer, then switched into a blue Bravada -- believing they'd gotten away.
 
James Wedick is a decorated former FBI agent who reviewed the case at the request of Target 8.
 
"I would think that there might be information there that they haven't disclosed yet, that they had these guys under surveillance maybe 24 hours," Wedick said.
 
He wouldn't be surprised if the FBI had this discussion after the Blazer was stolen:
 
"Do we try to take them down on a local charge or do you think we can follow these guys and be able to get them and take them down either outside the bank? Or maybe we can charge them with a conspiracy to rob a bank if we can find them doing enough things to charge the conspiracy?"
 
The new reports also reveal more about the robbers' weapons -- a Remington 12-gauge, Model 870 Tactical shotgun , used by Cheyne, and LaFave's Smith and Wesson Model M&P 15, .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.

Both had been stolen nearly a month earlier in a burglary at Gander Mountain in Grandville.

They also armed themselves with a Uniden police scanner, two black Cobra walkie-talkies and two cell phones.

The reports also show just how much money the robbers got -- more than $39,000.  Police recovered all of it.
 
As for the owner of the 1995 Blazer, he can no longer drive it. He has parked it out back. Even the thought of it brings tears.
 
"It haunted me," he said. "Yes, I drove it a couple times and it haunted