NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

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

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

MARCH 16, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GREENE COUNTY MAN CHARGED WITH BANK ROBBERY

            SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Greene County, Mo., man was charged in federal court today with robbing Empire Bank in Springfield, Mo., yesterday.

            Curtis L. Ralls, 43, of Greene County, was charged with bank robbery in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Springfield. Ralls remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Friday, March 19, 2010.

            According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Ralls entered Empire Bank, 3555 N. Glenstone Ave., in Springfield, at approximately 3:24 p.m. Monday, March 15, 2010. Ralls allegedly gave a note to a bank teller that said, “I have a gun! Give me the money.”

            A witness told police officers he saw a man run behind a nearby Kum-N-Go gas station, then drive off in a red Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck with no license plates. The witness also told police officers that the truck had wood or lumber in the back.

            A description of the vehicle was broadcast and a Greene County Sheriff’s deputy identified a vehicle matching the description. A pursuit ensued, the affidavit says, and when the vehicle was stopped, Ralls was arrested. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement officers found a jacket, sunglasses and gloves that matched those depicted in bank surveillance footage of the robber and described by witnesses. Stuffed inside one of the gloves was $1,720, the amount stolen from Empire Bank.

            Phillips cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge 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 Doug Bunch. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Springfield, 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

http://www.justice.gov../index.html