Attorneys for accused bank robber Robert Starnes Jr. want a federal judge to throw out evidence seized during a search of Starnes’ vehicle and Sheffield Lake apartment because investigators didn’t obtain a search warrant, instead relying on Starnes’ alleged status as a parolee.

But Starnes wasn’t on parole when the searches took place July 22, federal public defenders Debra Migdal and Debra Hughes wrote in court documents filed in the case.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery had issued an order in March ordering the Ohio Adult Parole Authority to stop monitoring Starnes because of a 2005 plea deal designed to wrap up the 1993 cases Starnes was on parole for as well as two newer cases.

But the state refused to accept Rothgery’s order, insisting that he did­n’t have the power to remove Starnes from parole.

Julie Walburn, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilita­tion and Correction, said this week that the state’s position hasn’t changed.

“As far as we’re concerned, he’s still on parole,” she said.

Starnes is facing federal bank rob­bery charges stemming from the July 21 robbery of a Chase bank branch in Sheffield Lake.

He was arrested on July 22 at his Sheffield Lake apartment complex for allegedly violating the conditions of his parole — he had been considered a violator at large by the state since May for failing to meet with his parole officer. He wasn’t charged with the bank robbery until several days later.

After Starnes was arrested on the alleged parole violation, the FBI, Sheffield Lake police, members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and the parole authority conducted a search of Starnes’ vehicle and apartment.

Among evidence seized during the search was a notebook page with writing indentations that matched a note given to a teller during the robbery and a BB gun similar to one displayed during the robbery.

Investigators also found a red, white and black bandana and a camouflage baseball cap that matched items worn by the robber, who made off with $1,845, authorities said.

None of that evidence should be able to be used against Starnes, Migdal and Hughes wrote, because police didn’t have a search warrant, which parole officials don’t need when they search a parole violator’s person, vehicle or home.

Since Starnes wasn’t on parole, the authorities had no right to arrest him or conduct the searches, Migdal and Hughes wrote.

Effectively, they wrote, police used the parole officers as a “stalking horse” to allow them to carry out a search they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to conduct.

At some point during the search Starnes’ wife, Kimberly Starnes, signed a consent form that allowed the authorities to continue the search, and Migdal and Hughes said they anticipate prosecutors will point to that as a reason to allow the evidence gathered during the search to be used.

But, they wrote, Kimberly Starnes was coerced into signing the consent form after officers forced her to the floor and placed her into handcuffs “for officer safety” during the illegal search.

Mike Tobin, spokesman for U.S. Attorney for Northern Ohio Steven Dettelbach, said prosecutors would file a response soon.

FBI Agent Scott Wilson said Starnes remains a suspect in two other Lorain County bank robberies still under investigation. He declined to comment on the search.

A hearing on the motion to suppress has been set for later this month.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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