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

MAY 20, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BANK ROBBERIES

IN SPRINGFIELD, SWEET SPRINGS

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to robbing Great Southern Bank in Springfield, Mo., and First Community Bank in Sweet Springs, Mo.

Steven Kyle Baugh, 45, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge James C. England this afternoon to the charges contained in a May 7, 2008, federal indictment.

By pleading guilty today, Baugh admitted that he robbed First Community Bank, 300 S. Miller St., in Sweet Springs, on April 8, 2008. Baugh handed the teller a note in which he threatened to shoot her, although the teller did not observe any weapons. The teller gave Baugh $950 from her drawer and he left the bank.

Baugh also admitted that he robbed Great Southern Bank, 507 E. Kearney in Springfield, on April 16, 2008. Baugh handed the bank teller a note demanding cash and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t comply with the note’s demand. When the teller gave him $1,520 from her drawer, Baugh ran out of the bank and drove away in a 1997 Mercury.

Investigators traced the vehicle to its owner, Baugh’s girlfriend, in Kansas City. Baugh was arrested at a mall in the Kansas City area later on the same day as the Springfield robbery.

Under federal statutes, Baugh could be subject to a sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas C. Bunch. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.

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