40 YEARS AGO • JUNE 10, 1982

THOMPSON FALLS GRADUATES 36 SENIORS

Thirty-six seniors of Thompson Falls High School received their diplomas Monday night. Members of the Class of 1982 are, Javier Alvarez, Laura Lee Becquart, Becky Ann Brown, Ellen Pyatt Bullard, Evan David Burnham, Rhonda Sue Calvert, Christine Cole, Jody Lynn Cole, James F. Doherty III, Arthur Lee Dykstra, Wayne Alex Dykstra, JoLynn Eichert, Scott F. Eichert, Charles Gardner, Janiece Hope Grimm, Diana Lee Jones, Teresa Rose Kaegbein, Michael F. LaBrosse, Steven L. Linderman, Samie Rae Molzhon, Shirley Elizabeth Naegeli, Sandra Nelson, Daniel Christopher Olson, Tracy K. Pavlik, Dottie May Sanders, Jennifer Mary Sanford, Timothy Patrick Sanford, Teresa Darlene Schumacher, Barbara Jean Schwartz, Paul Kevin Shear, Victor James Stobie, Adriana Velazco, Sherri Lynne Vincent, Tracy Lynn Ward, Geena Mary Wilkinson and Nathan John Williams.

BANK ROBBER SEARRCH LEADS TO DRUG BUST

A search for a suspected bank robber in the Heron area has lead to the “biggest drug bust” in Sanders County’s history according to Sheriff Harvey Shultz.

Officers from the Sanders County Sheriff’s office, the FBI and U.S. Marshalls from Spokane and Missoula recently obtained a search warrant for the double wide mobile home believed to be occupied by Kenneth Lloyd Pendelton and located beside Highway 200 west of the Heron turn-off. When the officers arrived at the home, Pendleton was not there, but they confiscated marijuana worth upwards of a half million dollars growing in a greenhouse at Pendleton’s place.

Sheriff Shultz said about 200 pounds of marijuana was burned up by officers.

Pendleton is wanted as the No. 1 suspect in the robbery of the St. Ignatius bank earlier this year. He is also suspected of robbing the bank at Priest River, Idaho last month.

Shultz said a wanted poster issued y the FBI states Pendleton has a “long history of bank robberies and escapes. He escaped from the federal McNeil Island Prison. He is considered armed and dangerous,” according to the bulletin.

Shultz said Pendleton had been residing in the Heron area for the past year.

Also recovered at the same time the marijuana raid was made, were a pickup and camper stolen from Seattle and a Caterpillar tractor taken from Missoula last November. Shultz estimated the value of the Cat from $18,000 to $20,000.

Shultz said the marijuana plants were three to 15 feet tall

Pendleton is on the FBI’s most wanted criminal list. He is 41 years old, six feet tall and weighs 190 pounds. He has brown balding hair and blue eyes.

The marijuana and stolen pickup, camper and Cat were located May 24, but the sheriff’s office did not release news earlier at the request of the FBI because it was thought the suspect might still be in the area, Shultz said.

Following is some interesting facts about Pendleton: CBS News, February 9, 2001 – Morinville body identified as U.S. criminal. The man whose body was found near Morinville has been identified as a career criminal from the United States.

Law enforcement officials in the U.S. say Kenneth Lloyd Pendleton, 60, had a history of breaking out of jail. His frozen body was found in a creek bed January 10. The RCMP say he had been stabbed and beaten and a plastic bag was wrapped around his head.

Why Pendleton was in Alberta and who killed him remain a mystery. But there is no question he was a notorious career criminal. Norman Brown, an FBI agent in Spokane, Washington says Pendleton was an experienced bank robber with a reputation for being brash.

“He at times taunted us by actually looking into the bank robbery surveillance cameras after committing his act and making sure that we saw that it was him that had committed the robbery,” says Brown.

Jim Hanson, a Spokane police officer during the 1970s and 1980s when Pendleton committed most of his crimes, says Pendleton was released from an Oregon prison last summer after serving 17 years for armed robbery. He failed to report to his parole officer and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Hanson says he was surprised to hear Pendleton was found in Alberta. “I knew he was out and about and that he was wanted, but it surprised me that he was in Canada,” he says.

Both Hanson and Brown say Pendleton will be remembered mostly for his successful and unsuccessful prison breaks. Pendleton escaped custody three times. He was caught trying to escape on three other occasions, including one attempt to break out of Leavenworth, one of the most secure prisons in the U.S.

Pendleton eventually robbed up to 80 banks in eight states and broke out of three prisons but spent most of his adult life behind bars.