Bad Beard Bandit Pleads Guilty to Robbing Eight Area Banks

COLUMBUS, OH—Kenneth J. Horsley, 54, of Columbus, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to robbing seven Columbus-area banks and one bank in Beavercreek, Ohio, between June 2012 and March 2013. Investigators dubbed Horsley the Bad Beard Bandit because in all but one robbery he wore a fake beard.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Kevin R. Cornelius, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott; Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs; Worthington Police Chief James R. Mosic; Dublin Police Chief Heinz von Eckartsberg; and Beavercreek Police Chief Dennis Evers announced the pleas entered today before U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.

Horsley pleaded guilty to five counts of bank robbery, each of which is punishable by up to 20-years in prison, and three counts of armed bank robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years for each count. Judge Sargus will schedule a sentencing for Horsley.

According to court documents, Horsley entered the banks and demanded that the bank employees give him money. In three of the robberies, he brandished a handgun and threatened to shoot anyone who followed him.

Columbus Police officers arrested Horsley on March 15, 2013. He has been in custody since his arrest.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by federal and local law enforcement agencies, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys David M. DeVillers and Laura M. Fulton who are prosecuting the case.