Nebraska Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Armed Robbery at St. Joseph Bank

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Omaha, Neb., man has been sentenced in federal court today for the armed robbery of U.S. Bank in St. Joseph, Mo.

Russel Lee Singletary, 67, of Omaha, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey on Tuesday, May 25, 2010, to 20 years in federal prison without parole. Singletary was sentenced to 17 years for the St. Joseph bank robbery. In addition, his supervised release was revoked in a prior bank robbery case in Iowa, and he was sentenced to a consecutive three-year prison term in that case.

On Dec. 2, 2009, Singletary pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery and to using a firearm during a crime of violence.

Singletary admitted that he stole $5,630 from U.S. Bank, 800 N. Belt Highway, St. Joseph, on Monday, Feb. 9, 2009. Singletary approached a teller when he entered the bank, displayed a handgun and demanded that she put money from her cash drawer into a plastic sack. Singletary was stopped by a state trooper about an hour later while traveling northbound on I-29 and was placed under arrest.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Michael Green. It was investigated by the St. Joseph, Mo., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.