NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JUNE 30, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OVERLAND PARK MAN SENTENCED FOR

ARMED BANK ROBBERY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Overland Park, Kan., man was sentenced in federal court today for armed bank robbery.

            Jeffrey A. Baker, 20, of Overland Park, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays this afternoon to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole, to be served consecutively to his sentence in an unrelated Johnson County, Kan., case.

            On March 19, 2009, Baker pleaded guilty to stealing $64,767 from Central Bank, 834 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, on Dec. 26, 2007. Baker also pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during the commission of that crime.

            Baker admitted that he and co-defendant Rashaud S. Shelton, 19, of Kansas City, entered the bank together. Baker approached a teller, slid a garbage bag into the teller window and instructed him to put “everything in the bag.” Shelton, armed with a handgun, approached a manager and demanded more money. Shelton was escorted to the vault area, where the manager handed him more money, which Shelton placed in a sack. As they left the bank, Baker took the gun from Shelton and put it in his pocket.

            Shelton was sentenced on June 10, 2009, to 11 years and nine months in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty to his role in the bank robbery.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce E. Clark. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html