Bethany Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Robberies at Five Grocery Stores
Faces More Than 32 Years in Federal Prison

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Bethany, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a string of armed grocery store robberies.

Jeremiah Kraushaar, 32, of Bethany, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to the charges contained in a Sept. 20, 2011, superseding indictment.

By pleading guilty today, Kraushaar admitted that he and co-conspirators robbed five grocery stores, including Thriftway Store, 1616 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Mo., on Sept. 13, 2010; Cosentino’s Apple Market, 7506 Raytown Rd., Raytown, Mo., on Oct. 3, 2010; Hy-Vee Store, 1104 S. 25th St., Bethany, Mo., on Oct. 14, 2010; Patricia’s Food Store, 1212 W. 40 Hwy., Odessa, Mo., on Oct. 22, 2010; and Apple Market Grocery Store, 1215 E. Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd., Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 2, 2010.

During each robbery, grocery store employees were held at gunpoint and their hands were bound with plastic zip-tie restraints. Kraushaar also pleaded guilty today to two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence during the Cosentino’s Apple Market and Apple Market Grocery Store robberies.

Co-defendant Finis Richardson, 36, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Sept. 7, 2011, to five years and three months in federal prison without parole.

According to court documents, multiple law enforcement agencies were investigating a series of grocery store robberies across northwest Missouri. Certain common characteristics of the robberies were captured by the stores’ surveillance cameras, including the robbers entering the stores in the early morning when employees were opening the business, forcibly restraining employees with zip-ties, and using walkie-talkies and cellular phones during the robberies. After law enforcement released footage from the surveillance video of the Oct. 3, 2010, robbery of the Apple Market in Raytown, an anonymous tip was made to the 474-TIPS hot line. The defendants were arrested following a high-speed pursuit on Dec. 19, 2010.

Under federal statutes, Kraushaar is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole, on the two firearms counts. That sentence is consecutive to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole for the armed robbery conspiracy. 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 D. Michael Green. It was investigated by the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department; the Independence, Mo., Police Department; the Wichita, Kan., Police Department; the Odessa, Mo., Police Department; and the Raytown, Mo., Police Department.