Jury Convicts Kansas City Man of Bank Robbery

Thief Accidentally Discarded Stolen Money While Fleeing from Bank

January 21, 2010 - Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was convicted by a federal jury today of robbing Central Bank in Kansas City, Mo.

Clifton D. Taylor, 37, of Kansas City, was found guilty of stealing $2,700 from Central Bank on March 12, 2009.

Taylor entered Central Bank, 2301 Independence Ave., at approximately 12:22 p.m. on March 12, 2009. He approached a teller window and handed the teller a note that demanded $3,000 “or somebody out here get shot. 20 seconds.” The teller gave Taylor $2,700 in $100 bills and he left the bank.

Another bank employee went to lock the doors and saw two employees who were returning from lunch. She told them the bank had just been robbed and pointed out the fleeing robber. The two employees got into their car and began following Taylor. They continued to follow in their car while communicating with the police on a cell phone as Taylor, on foot, walked down an alley and through various yards. Taylor walked behind a house and discarded his black leather jacket and hat in the back of a pick-up truck. Taylor then walked into a cell phone store at a strip mall two blocks from the bank.

While in the store, Taylor attempted to purchase a cell phone; however, after reaching in to his pocket to pay, he realized that he no longer had the money from the bank robbery because it was in the pocket of the jacket he had discarded. When Taylor walked out of the business seven minutes after the robbery, he was arrested.

A nearby resident told police that he found a jacket and hat that did not belong to him in the back of his pick-up truck. Investigators determined that these were the jacket and hat discarded by Taylor after the robbery, and in the pocket of the black leather jacket, they found the $2,700 that had been stolen from the bank.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated approximately five hours over two days before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith, ending a trial that began Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010.

Taylor remains in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing. Under federal statutes, Taylor is subject to a sentence of up to 20 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 Daniel M. Nelson and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Leena V. Ramana. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.