Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty to Robbing Cherokee County Bank
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 09, 2013 |
WICHITA, KS—An Oklahoma man has pleaded to robbing a bank in Cherokee County, Kansas, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.
Thomas Hass, 44, Quapaw, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery. In his plea, he admitted that on July 22, 2013, he robbed the American Bank at 901 E. 7th Street in Galena, Kansas. He entered the bank and asked a teller for a mortgage application form. Then, he pulled a gun and said, “Give me all your money.” The tellers did not know that the weapon was a pellet gun that shoots rubber pellets. Hass was arrested after police released surveillance photos and received a tip leading them to him. Hass had approached a woman and told her that he recently had obtained a large amount of money and that he wanted to take her to Las Vegas.
Sentencing is set for November 25. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Grissom commended the Galena Police Department, the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger for their work on the case.