KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Kan., woman and man were charged in federal court today with the armed robbery of an Excelsior Springs, Mo., bank.Virginia Lynn Spencer, 28, and Steven Dale Robinson, 22, both of Kansas City, Kan., were charged in a two-count criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. Spencer and Robinson remain in federal custody pending a detention hearing.
Spencer and Robinson are each charged in one count of aiding and abetting others to steal $11,883 at gunpoint from Bank Midwest, 201 N. Jesse James Rd., Excelsior Springs, on Friday, May 23, 2014. Spencer is also charged with one count of aiding and abetting another person to use a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Spencer entered the bank at about 5:30 p.m. with another person, who has not been charged. That person stood in the lobby and pointed a .32-caliber revolver in the air with his finger on the trigger. They ordered bank employees to sit on the floor, the affidavit says, then Spencer dove on top of the middle lobby teller counter and began opening the tellers drawers in search of money. Spencer pulled herself over the counter and went behind the teller counter, the affidavit says, before jumping back over the counter while holding a bag.
Both robbers ran from the bank, according to the affidavit, with Spencer saying, “Have a nice day” on her way out.A bank customer, who had just conducted a transaction at the ATM with her three children in the vehicle, drove around toward the front of the bank to leave the parking lot. She saw Robinson sitting in the driver’s seat of a Grand Marquis that was backed in near the bank’s front doors at an angle, the affidavit says. The two robbers ran out of the bank’s front doors and got into the vehicle. The vehicle quickly left the Bank Midwest parking lot, narrowly missing the customer’s vehicle. She immediately called 911 on her cell phone and reported the vehicle’s direction of travel.
Clay County Sheriff’s deputies saw the vehicle near 69 Highway and Lightburn Road. A pursuit followed, and the robbers’ vehicle crashed near Kings Highway and Dam Road in Liberty, Mo. Spencer and Robinson were arrested. A third person remains hospitalized as a result of the crash.
Law enforcement officers found a bag containing $11,883 on the front floorboard of the vehicle.
Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges 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 Justin Davids. It was investigated by the FBI, the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Excelsior Springs, Mo., Police Department.
