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

FEBRUARY 10, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH ARMED BANK ROBBERY;

ALLEGEDLY ROBBED BANK TWICE

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a defendant was charged in federal court today for the armed robbery of U.S. Bank in St. Joseph, Mo.

Russel Lee Singletary, 65, address unknown, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City with stealing $5,630 from U.S. Bank, 800 N. Belt Highway, St. Joseph, on Monday, Feb. 9, 2009.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal complaint, Singletary used a handgun to rob the bank on two separate occasions.

Singletary robbed the bank on Monday at approximately 4:12 p.m., the affidavit says, carrying a yellow plastic bag in his left hand and a black semi-automatic pistol in his right hand. Singletary allegedly demanded money from a teller drawer, and after the teller gave it to him, he left the bank. The teller ran to a window and saw him leave in a Ford Thunderbird; she also saw his license plate.

Singletary was stopped a short time later while traveling northbound on I-29 by a state trooper and was placed under arrest.

Digital surveillance photos from the bank indicated that the same individual had also robbed the bank on Dec. 1, 2008. On that date, the affidavit says, Singletary entered the bank at approximately 2:32 p.m., placed a plastic sack on a teller counter, pointed a revolver at the same teller, and demanded money. A bank audit determined the loss from the earlier robbery was $2,400.

Wood cautioned that the charge contained in this 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 D. Michael Green. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

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