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

MARCH 28, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDEPENDENCE MAN SENTENCED FOR BANK ROBBERY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Independence, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for the armed robbery of the First National Bank of Missouri in Independence.

            Raymond A. Delacruz, 26, of Independence, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs this morning to 13 years and one month in federal prison without parole.

            On Sept. 12, 2007, Delacruz pleaded guilty to bank robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence. Delacruz admitted that he entered the First National Bank of Missouri located at 10725 Independence Ave., Independence, on March 28, 2006, wearing a mask, carrying a firearm, and loudly demanding money. Pointing a handgun in the air, Delacruz fired a shot away from bank employees. Bank personnel gave Delacruz $9,311, and he left the bank on foot.

            Delacruz was seen running from the bank into a wooded area where he entered a vehicle and drove away. Responding police officers initiated an immediate pursuit and shortly thereafter stopped and arrested Delacruz. Delacruz was in possession of a loaded handgun and the cash taken during the bank robbery.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Michael Warner. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Sugar Creek, Mo., Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.