KC Man Pleads Guilty to Northland Bank Robbery

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - David M. Ketchmark, Acting 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 the Bank of America.

Edward L. Green, 24, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to the charge contained in an Aug. 7, 2012, federal indictment.

Co-defendants Robert Lowe, 27, and Rolando Winters, 25, also of Kansas City, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the bank robbery and await sentencing.

Green admitted today that he drove the getaway car for the July 19, 2012, robbery in which they stole $5,863 from the Bank of America at 661 N.W. 55th Terr., Kansas City. Lowe and Winters entered the bank in order to rob it while Green positioned the vehicle to pick them up after the robbery.

Upon entering the bank, Winters announced that “This is a robbery” and demanded money from a teller. Winters told the teller that her life depended on it and to move quicker. Winters kept his hand in his waistband and the teller feared that he may have a gun. Lowe took money from another teller while Winters took money from the first teller. Lowe and Winters then fled from the bank.

According to court documents, law enforcement officers had been conducting surveillance on Green, Lowe and Winters as the men were apparently casing several banks in North Kansas City, Mo., and in Kansas City-North. When Lowe and Winters ran out of the bank, law enforcement officers ordered them to stop. Green was arrested without incident but Lowe and Winters continued to run around the apartment complex. They ran into an undercover law enforcement truck around the corner of a building and were taken into custody. Winters was transported to North Kansas City Hospital for treatment of injuries he received from running into the vehicle.

Under federal statutes, each of the defendants is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.