NEWS RELEASE

MARY BETH BUCHANAN
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

TWO CHARGED IN ERIE COLLAR BOMB CASE

(July 11, 2007) - Two Erie-area residents have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges relating to the August 28, 2003 robbery of the PNC Bank on Peach Street in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced today.

The three-count indictment, returned on July 9, 2007, and unsealed today, charges Marjorie Diehl Armstrong, age 58, and Kenneth Barnes, age 53, with conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, armed bank robbery and using and carrying a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to Ms. Buchanan, the indictment presented to the court alleges that from February 2003 until September 21, 2003, Diehl Armstrong, Barnes, and other unindicted co-conspirators planned to use a destructive device attached to the neck and torso of one of the co-conspirators as a means to rob the PNC Bank located at 7200 Peach Street in Erie, Pennsylvania. These individuals allegedly contrived a series of notes for use in the bank robbery, first as apparent instructions for the co-conspirator that entered the bank, and second, as instructions for bank employees to follow in giving money to the bank robber.

The indictment further alleges that it was the group's intention to have it seem that the person wearing the explosive device was merely a hostage. This was done by making it appear that the bank robber had to follow the series of instructions in order to perpetrate the robbery and safely deactivate the collar bomb.

Part of their conspiracy was that the collar bomb was a functional destructive device, capable of causing grave risk of death to the person wearing it and to others if he did not turn over the bank robbery proceeds to the other co-conspirators and complete the series of instructions. It was further part of the conspiracy that if the wearer of the device died, he could not be a witness.

It was further part of the conspiracy that the individuals involved planned to obtain the bank robbery proceeds from the bomb wearer, before he embarked on the course of completing the instructions so that if he were caught, he would no longer have the money and could falsely claim to authorities that he was a hostage and an unwilling participant in the bank robbery.

Ms. Buchanan said the indictment alleges that the co-conspirators committed a series of acts in perpetration of the crime. Specifically, that:

• Marjorie Diehl Armstrong solicited Kenneth Barnes to assist in robbing a bank.
• She solicited Barnes to kill her father, and intended to pay him with the proceeds from the bank robbery.
• She requested Barnes provide instruction in the manufacturer of a pipe bomb and asked him about the use of timers.
• Diehl Armstrong provided unindicted co-conspirator W.R. with two kitchen egg timers for use in the destructive device.
• Prior to August 28, 2003, Diehl Armstrong killed her live-in boyfriend, J.R., to keep him from disclosing the bank robbery plan that was being formulated.
• On or about August 27, 2003, Diehl Armstrong, Kenneth Barnes, along with unindicted co-conspirators W.R., B.W. and others met at W.R.'s house at 8645 Peach Street and discussed their plans to rob the PNC Bank the next day.
• On or about August 28, 2003, Diehl Armstrong and Barnes drove together to Peach Street and prepared for their role in the bank robbery.
• The pair then drove to the Shell gas station located at 8228 Peach Street and met W.R.
• At approximately 1:30 p.m., W.R. used the pay phone in the Shell gas station parking lot to call Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria where B.W. was working as a delivery driver that day. W.R. ordered two pizzas to be delivered to the tower site located at the end of a dirt driveway at 8631 Peach Street, next to W.R. 's residence.
• Diehl Armstrong and W.R. waited near the pay phone for B.W. to pass by, enroute to the tower site.
• At approximately 2:00 p.m., B.W., W.R., Diehl Armstrong, Barnes and other co-conspirators assembled in the area of the tower site, whereupon the destructive device was affixed to the neck and torso of B.W.
• At approximately 2:20 p.m., Diehl Armstrong and Barnes, seated in a parked vehicle, acted as lookouts across Peach Street from the shopping center across from the PNC Bank.
• At the same time, B.W. entered the PNC Bank and presented a teller the demand note.
• At about 2:32 p.m., B.W. exited the PNC Bank with approximately $8,702.00.
• Barnes watched through a set of binoculars and observed B.W. in the vicinity of the bank.
• At approximately 2:42 p.m., Diehl Armstrong and Barnes drove away from the area where B.W. had been stopped by Pennsylvania State Troopers.
• That same afternoon, a co-conspirator hastily removed the note that had been placed at the location identified in the bank robbery instruction notes as a wooded area near the McKean Township sign on Interstate 79.
• On the afternoon of August 28, 2003, Diehl Armstrong was twice observed in the vicinity of the points described in the bank robbery instruction notes. First, she drove in a vehicle with Barnes on I-79 traveling in the wrong direction north bound on the shoulder of the south bound section of the highway. Later, she was allegedly observed again on or near I-79 in the vicinity of one of the sites.
• Finally, on September 14, 2003, W.R. discarded approximately 1,040 pounds of refuse in the Erie landfill, in order to hide physical evidence of his and other co-conspirators' roles in this conspiracy.

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of life in prison, a fine of $750,000, or both, for the defendants. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendants.

Kenneth Barnes is scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court on Thursday, July 12, at 2:00 p.m. Marjorie Diehl Armstrong will be present before the court for an initial appearance on Friday, July 13, at 3:00 p.m.

Assistant United States Attorney Marshall J. Piccinini will be prosecuting this case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.