NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

OCTOBER 11, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDEPENDENCE MAN CHARGED IN NORTHLAND BANK ROBBERY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Independence, Mo., man was charged in federal court today with robbing a Kansas City-North bank.

             Robert Maynard Surrey, 55, of Independence, was charged in a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City this afternoon with stealing $8,827 from the Bank Midwest located inside the Wal-Mart store at 8551 N. Boardwalk Ave., Kansas City, Mo.

             According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Surrey entered the bank at approximately 2:50 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 8, and handed a teller a note demanding money from her teller drawer. When she handed the money to Surrey, the affidavit says, he turned and walked away. A surveillance camera allegedly captured him entering a silver-colored pick-up truck and leaving the parking lot.

             On Wednesday, Oct. 10, security personnel at Harrah’s Casino identified Surrey and he was arrested.

            Wood cautioned that the charge contained in the complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Becker. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.