COVINGTON, KY - A Covington man, convicted earlier this month of the armed kidnapping of an elderly woman, was convicted Thursday afternoon of bank robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
The jury convicted 40 year-old Joseph Weir after a little more than an hour of deliberation on the third day of trial.
According to testimony at trial, Weir robbed the Huntington Bank at Sixth and Madison in Covington of $900.00 on December 5, 2012. He passed a note threatening to shoot a teller and pointed a firearm at her when she hesitated before giving him the money. Weir had hidden a .380 handgun in his jacket prior to the robbery.
Evidence showed that Weir had entered a nearby Fifth Third Bank immediately prior to going to Huntington Bank. After deciding that Fifth Third was too crowded, he proceeded to Huntington Bank and robbed it. After fleeing Huntington Bank with the money, Weir hid under a tarp in a nearby area and changed his clothes, leaving the jacket, shoes, and a pair of glasses he wore during the robbery under that tarp. Officers recovered the items, including the note Weir intended to use to rob the Fifth Third Bank, and linked them to Weir through surveillance video and witness statements.
This marked Weir’s second conviction within the month. After a three-day trial in federal court in Covington, he was convicted on December 5, 2012 of kidnapping and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Evidence at that the December 5th trial showed that Weir, a convicted felon, kidnapped a 76 year- old patron of the Crestview Town Center on May 31, 2011 by threatening her with a knife and handgun. Weir took the victim in an attempt to get access to her bank accounts.
After forcing his way into the victim’s car, he used her vehicle to transport her to a remote area near Cleves, Ohio. Once there, he used his knife to cut pieces of the victim’s sweater and used them to tie her to a tree near the bank of the Great Miami River.
Weir abandoned the victim and took her car back to Kentucky, ultimately leaving it near his Covington residence. The victim was able to free herself from the tree and eventually found assistance at a nearby road. She suffered minor injuries.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Perrye Turner, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, jointly announced the conviction.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the Covington Police Department, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, and the Lakeside Park/Crestview Hills Police Department. Weir was indicted in March of 2012. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tony Bracke and Elaine Leonhard.
Weir will appear for sentencing on April 22, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. He faces a minimum sentence of 32 years and a maximum of life in prison. However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing a sentence.
