Thursday, February 17, 2011

Wife identifies Joplin Great Southern bank robber

An Arkansas woman identified her husband as the man who robbed two banks, including the Great Southern Bankm 1232 S. Rangeline, Joplin, according to an affidavit filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The affidavit, written by FBI Special Agent Patrick Thomas says Fort Smith police officers showed surveillance photos from the Sept. 16 Joplin robbery to Tami Knepper, wife of suspect Robert Knepper:

(She) identified Robert Knepper as the robber. Tami Knepper also identified the blue jeans and tennis shoes worm by Robert Knepper during the robbery. She advised that the New York Mets baseball cap worn by Knepper during the robbery was identical to a cap that Robert Knepper's
daughter had bought him for his birthday.

The affidavit featured the following description of the Joplin robbery:

On September 16, 2010, at approximately 5 p.m., a white male subject entered Great Southern Bank, located at 1232 South Range Line Road, Joplin, Missouri, while talking on a cellular telephone. The subject stated, "I'm in the bank now", then terminated the call and approached the bank's teller counter. The subject brandished a handgun, climbed
over the teller counter and ordered the bank employees to the floor. He then ordered the tellers to open the bank vault.

The subject waited five minutes for the vault's lock to open and then retrieved money from the vault, placing it a blue soft shell cooler he brought into the bank. While he waited for the vault to open, the subject told a bank employee that he was dying and that the money stolen from the bank would be his life insurance. He also removed money from some of the teller drawers. The subject took the driver's licenses from each of the three tellers and told them he would come to their houses if they didn't wait 30 minutes before telling anyone about the robbery. The subject then exited the bank. An audit by bank personnel indicated the robber got away with $404,350.00 in U.S. Currency.

Bank employees described the subject as having dark hair and beard and what appeared to be black eyes with bandages covering his nose and finger tips. He was wearing a New York Mets baseball hat, blue checkered shirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. Subsequent analysis of the surveillance footage revealed that the handgun used by the subject was a Springfield Armory XD.

The Fort Smith police arrested Knepper Sunday. The arrest was decribed in the affidavit:

On February 13, 2011, the Fort Smith, Arkansas Police Department received a telephone call reporting that a bag containing a handgun was found behind the Red Lobster restaurant in Fort Smith. When the Fort Smith PD responded, officers discovered that the bag also contained $166,000.00 in U.S. Currency as well as various hotel and car rental receipts.

The handgun in the bag was a Springfield Armory XD. The receipts led the Fort Smith PD to Robert Knepper, who was staying at a Comfort Inn in Fort Smith. When questioned, Knepper advised that the money was his and that he had earned the money throughout his lifetime.

Knepper claimed that he didn't trust banks and that was why he kept the money in the bag. The Fort Smith PD arrested Knepper on a misdemeanor weapons charge.

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