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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend December 1, 2005 Edward Jay Silva, 28, is escorted from the Federal Courthouse Wednesday afternoon after being transported from Sacramento, Calif., where he was arrested Nov. 10. Silva is suspected of committing a string of robberies in Medford. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Bank robbery suspect hears initial charges Indictments coming for Silva, accomplices By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune The man suspected in a daring wave of Jackson County robberies has returned to Medford to face federal charges. Edward Jay Silva, 28, stood in a Wednesday hearing before U.S. Magistrate John P. Cooney, who found sufficient cause for a charge of bank robbery against Silva. Federal marshals on Tuesday brought Silva from Sacramento, Calif., where he was arrested Nov. 10, and lodged him in the Josephine County Jail. Although Silva was arrested only in connection with a Sept. 7 heist of Washington Mutual in Gold Hill, an affidavit filed in Medford’s U.S. District Court details his alleged involvement in three other Medford robberies. Silva’s suspected accomplice, 33-year-old Thomas Ray Taylor, told investigators that before he helped Silva hold up Washington Mutual, the two robbed two other banks and three businesses. On June 15, at the Deli Bean Purple Parrot on North Pacific Highway, Silva and Taylor forced the male clerk to the ground and took cash from the register, the affidavit said. The men were masked, and one had a handgun. Five days later, the duo stormed the Bank of America branch on West Main Street at about 2:22 p.m., according to the affidavit. Sixteen bank customers and eight employees were threatened with handguns and ordered to the floor. The crime was Medford’s first "take-over" bank robbery in 10 years, police said. Advertisement Planning more heists, Silva brought former roommate Micah Joe Downing into the fold, Taylor told investigators. He said that in preparation for Downing’s first robbery on Aug. 18, Silva told Taylor that he "staked out" the Trophy Club tavern on Medford’s South Central Avenue, even following the bartender to her trailer-park home after work. This time, Silva stayed outside with a police scanner while Downing and Taylor went inside armed with a silver pellet gun that looked like a semi-automatic pistol, the affidavit said. After Taylor collected about $18,000 from the bartender, Downing told her not to call police because he knew where she lived, the court record said. Less than three weeks later, the trio plotted to hold up a bank, considering branches in Cave Junction, Merlin and Rogue River before finally settling on the Washington Mutual in Gold Hill, Taylor told investigators. Taylor said that on Sept. 6, he and Silva purchased clear plastic masks, wigs, gloves, sweatshirts, rubbing alcohol and latex gloves from the Wal-Mart store on Medford’s Crater Lake Highway. They picked up Downing the next day in Cave Junction and drove to Gold Hill in Silva’s white Dodge Stratus, Taylor said. Downing stayed in the car and parked about a block and a half from the bank, he said. Masked and armed with a pellet gun and pepper spray, Silva and Downing carried blue pillow cases into the bank, the affidavit said. Silva demanded the key to the vault, and Taylor went with a teller to retrieve about $196,000 in cash, it said. Several people saw two men running toward a white car and were later able to give police a description of Silva’s Stratus with its smoked windows, chrome wheels and after-market muffler. Officers’ recent contact with white, four-door Dodge cars became the subject of a Medford Police Department records search. Lt. Tim George determined that, two days before the Trophy Club robbery, an officer stopped Silva’s car. Taylor was a passenger, and the officer noted several hundred dollars in cash and a police scanner inside. Silva said his address was at 502 Whitman Place, Medford. Recalling Silva’s previous convictions for two separate strings of Medford burglaries, detectives went to his home just hours after the Gold Hill bank robbery. They saw the Stratus outside and knocked on the door. No one answered. More record searches led investigators to Taylor’s mother, who gave police his cell phone number. When police left a message inquiring about Silva, Taylor said he hadn’t seen him in two days. About 30 minutes later, Silva himself called police, the affidavit said. Claiming he was in Portland, Silva told Medford police Detective Bill Ford that he heard the police were "sniffing around" his car. But investigators were mistaken if they thought the car was involved in a crime, he said. His mother, Fonda Lowe, had the keys, and the car hadn’t been driven for three days, he said. Less than an hour after Ford talked to Silva, police stopped Taylor’s car at Medford’s 12th Street and South Central Avenue. Intending to cite and release Taylor for driving while suspended, officer Jason Becker noticed Taylor’s two passengers were acting strangely when asked about a backpack inside the car. Finding tens of thousands of dollars in cash inside the backpack, Becker placed the three under arrest. The serial number on a single $20 bill was later determined to exactly match one taken from the Gold Hill bank, the affidavit said. Downing turned himself in to police on Nov. 3. A week later, Silva was arrested in Sacramento. He, Taylor and Downing are expected to be indicted in the case later this week. Silva’s next court appearance is set for Monday. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail Bank robbery suspect hears initial charges ">[email protected] . 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