Poplar Bluff man pleads guilty to bank robbery

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff man pleaded guilty Tuesday to armed bank robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm, federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway announced in a news release.

Creig Roberts, 29, pleaded guilty to one felony count of armed bank robbery and one felony count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He appeared before U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw.

On Dec. 14, a man walked into the Southern Missouri Bank in Poplar Bluff at around 1:30 p.m. The man was wearing a cap and sunglasses. He told the tellers at the bank that he wanted all their $100 and $20 bills. When one teller told him she didn't have any more of the bills he wanted, the man reached around his back as if he had a firearm.

The tellers did not see a firearm during the robbery; however, the teller who said the man reached behind his back believed he had a firearm and made the gesture to make her obey him. The tellers gave the man the cash in their cash drawers and walked out of the bank with it. A later audit disclosed that the man had taken $1,740.

The law enforcement officers involved in the investigation obtained information that Roberts might have been involved in the bank robbery. They made contact with Roberts later that afternoon. Roberts agreed to be interviewed and admitted he was the man who robbed the bank earlier that same day.

Roberts still had $875 from the robbery and gave it to officers. The firearm that he used was a 9mm Ruger pistol. Roberts told the officers he had reached around his back to imply to the tellers that he had a firearm on his person during the robbery.

Roberts now faces a maximum punishment of 25 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for the armed robbery, and life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for possession of the firearm during the robbery. Sentencing has been set for Feb. 18.