NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

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

JANUARY 22, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GREENWOOD WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO

USING A FIREARM IN BANK ROBBERY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Greenwood, Mo., woman pleaded guilty in federal court to using a firearm during the armed robbery of Union Bank in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

            Linda Jo Spooner, 42, of Greenwood, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, to using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.

            Spooner admitted that she used a firearm to steal $88,200 from Union Bank, 3700 S.W. Cheddington Drive, Lee’s Summit, on Feb. 13, 2008. Spooner entered the bank carrying a black duffel bag. Spooner pointed a .32-caliber Taurus revolver at a bank teller, ordering her to put her hands up, then handed the duffel bag to the teller and ordered her to place money from the bank vault into the duffel bag. Spooner ordered all the bank employees to lie on the floor.

            In the meantime, two women approached a police officer to report a suspicious vehicle parked at La Petite Academy, across the street from the bank. The police officer parked near the bank to see if the vehicle returned, and when it did, he contacted the dispatcher to send another officer to the bank. The dispatcher then called the bank, but no one in the bank was answering the telephone.

            When Spooner left the bank, she was immediately arrested by the waiting police officers and the robbery proceeds were recovered.

            Under federal statutes, Spooner is subject to a mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Y. Tabor. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department.

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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