Charleston man enters guilty plea in bank robbery, bomb threat case

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- A Charleston man who used a bomb threat as a ruse to divert police before robbing a bank has admitted his guilt.

Deidrick Reed, 26, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to one felony count of making a false bomb threat, one felony count of armed bank robbery and one felony count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

With the plea, Reed admitted that on the morning of Dec. 12, he and an accomplice called the Charleston Department of Public Safety, claiming bombs were inside three schools. While law enforcement officers were responding to the schools, Reed and his accomplice robbed the Citizens Bank of Charleston of more than $29,000.

The two entered the bank with hoods and masks on, brandishing guns. Reed went to a teller window and demanded money while pointing his weapon at bank employees. His accomplice went into the record-keeping department, brought those employees to the teller's area at gunpoint and ordered them to the ground. The tellers placed the money in a duffle bag, and the robbers fled.

On Jan. 21, Reed was arrested in Chicago by members of the FBI's Violent Crimes/Fugitive Task Force. When interviewed by federal and state law enforcement officers, Reed admitted his role in robbing Citizens Bank.

He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the false bomb threat; a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for armed bank robbery; and a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 15.