Carthage bank robber's sentence upheld

Convicted bank robber Thomas Maggard's appeal of his eight-year sentence, was rejected by the U. S. Eighth District Court of Appeals Friday.
Maggard, 53, was convicted of the Feb. 7, 2006, robbery of United Missouri Bank in Carthage. According to the affidavit of FBI agent Rick McLain, the robbery took place like this:

According to UMB teller Lori Tetzlaff an unknown white male (hereafter male robber)
accompanied by an unknown white female (hereafter female robber) entered the bank through the bank's east doors and walked up to Tetzlaff's teller window. The female robber asked Tetzlaff for a deposit slip. Upon receipt of a blank deposit slip, both the male and female robbers walked to the center island located in the bank lobby and while there the female robber was observed writing. The male and female robbers then walked back to Tetzlaff's teller window. The female robber placed a hand written note on the counter for Tetzlaff to read. Tetzlaff recalled the note stated words to the effect, "Put the money in the bag." The male robber then pulled a white plastic bag out of his pocket and gave it to Tetzlaff. Tetzlaff advised that the bag looked like those given out at Wal Mart. Tetzlaff took the money out of her teller drawer and thereafter placed it in the plastic bag. Included with the money from Tetzlaff's
drawer were five $20 "bait bills" whose serial numbers were previously recorded by the bank.
The male robber grabbed the bag with the money from Tetzlaff, and the female robber took the hand written demand note before both robbers exited the bank via the east doors. Tetzlaff advised that there were no weapons displayed by the robbers during the execution of the robbery.

McLain's affidavit also described how Maggard and his female accomplice were captured:

Shortly after the robbery Christopher K. Patel, the manager of Pizza Hut, was
interviewed by an officer with the Carthage Police Department. Patel advised that just a short time earlier he observed an older model (believed to have been made in the 1980's) Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, blue/gray in color, with an out-of-state (possibly California) license plate and with what he thought was a brown blanket covering several items in the bed of the truck, parked on the east side of the Pizza Hut. Patel then noticed a white female and a white male walking in the direction of UMB. Patel thought it was suspicious that they would park at the Pizza Hut and
walk to the bank."

Patel called the police, Maggard and his accomplice were arrested. It turned out they also had a committed a bank robbery in Gridley, Calif.